Agilent 7890A/5975C

Discussions about GC-MS, LC-MS, LC-FTIR, and other "coupled" analytical techniques.

7 posts Page 1 of 1
I'm all of a sudden having an issue with my GC connecting to MSD Chemstation.

Upon startup of Chemstation, it states that the MSD and GC are both "OK" and lists their IP addresses.

Then, when initializing it gives the error: "Data Subscriptions Failed: Are inbound ports blocked? Is there right type of GC at the IP address?"

It connects to the MSD but keeps the GC offline. Any idea what may be causing this?

MSD Chemstation version is Rev. E.02.02.1431

Only change is recently when from a wireless adapter for internet to a wired ethernet adapter plugged in via USB to Ethernet adapter. However, I unplugged the adapter, rebooted the computer, then the GC and still having the same problem.
Exactly what it says: "Inbound ports blocked'

Data subscription in terms of Agilent 7890 is:
* Allocation on PC side of 4 listening (server) sockets.
* PC informs the GC about these sockets, their IP and port numbers
* GC connects as client to these server sockets and starts to send signal data.
Pretty simple :))))

Your PC firewall blocks incoming connection for ports number 10000 and greater.

Also the clever "Rapid" driver allocates server sockets bound to IP address of your wireless card which firewall rules different to one of intranet card.
So, it has been two years and this error is rearing its ugly head again. The GCMS computer is not hooked to the internet, so did not undergo any automatic updates. Worked fine when ran last week and this error message this week. Any suggestions? Firewall is not blocking anything.
netstat -l

shows you what interfaces Chemstation is BOUND for incoming connection.

You can even telnet to them from another host and feel yourself like GC trying to connect.

disable not used networking card
Ok. So, I'm not a huge computer networking aficionado. I know just enough to be dangerous. I am able to ping the GC, but am still getting the error. If I create another instrument with just the MSD and not the GC, it opens up fine. Do you have any specific instructions on what to try? It seems as though the GC IS communicating with the computer, but is NOT communicating with Chemstation.
So comms between the PC and instrument seem to be okay at a hardware level (ping checks out) so most probably a Chemstation software issue, not communicating with the GC...

I know that if the interface metric is not set high enough (i.e. to '1') on the interface that is connected to the GC-MS, then that can sometimes cause problems with comms - here's a guide I just Googled: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-priority-order-network-adapters-windows-10

N.b. I assume you're using Windows...

There's also the firewall log you can check (usually at C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\Firewall\pfirewall.log). Open it in Notepad and look for entries logging activity to the GC's IP address. If there's a lot of 'fails' (can't remember the exact word that MS uses to indicate a blocked connection in their logs) then you or your IT people will need to make some modifications to your firewall rules to allow GC traffic...

If you're running Windows 10 with E.02.02 I've spent many hours dealing with various weird compatibility issues. It's possible to get E.02.02 working fine, but for some reason different issues (mostly with networking as you've described) crop up on more or less identical installations. If you can upgrade to a currently supported version I'd recommend it, but obviously not the easiest or cheapest option.

Another thing that you might want to try if the above fails is to load up the “Agilent Connection Expert” (under Agilent IO libraries Suite) and select the LAN device under Instrument I/O. Click “Change Properties” and change the default protocol to SICL-LAN. I've found this has restored a system I'd given up on to working order in the past.
I have installs on both a Windows 7 PC and a Windows 10 PC. Both with the same error. I have disabled all network adapters except for the one connected to the GC/MSD.

Changed the settings in the connection expert to no avail.

Checked for a firewall log (there was none). And the firewall is turned off...

Any other options?
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