Advertisement

Help: My Ultima LCMSMS is broken

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

5 posts Page 1 of 1
There are several things wrong with my Micromass Ultima MSMS:

1) Desolvation temperature and Probe temperature would not go up. :shock:
2) Turbo Molecular pumps makes a HUGE "ZUMMMMMMMMM" when vacuum pumping :!:
3) When "Press to Operate" is selected, there is a LOUD constant BEEP that wouldn't go away. :cry:

In addition, I have a Agilent 1100 HPLC that suddenly stopped communicating with my Quattro II MS.

Any input greatly appreciated.

TIA

Would you describe the turbo pump noise as a steady, high-pitched whine, louder than usual? If so, the turbo might need replacing. Eventually all turbos will fail, and the loud whine gives you anywhere from a few minutes to a few days' warning. If this is happening, the best thing to do is shut down immediately until you can arrange to have the turbo replaced. When the bearings seize, the turbo destructively comes apart on the inside. Although hopefully all the pieces stay inside the casing, there is a slight chance of instrument damage or even personal injury when this happens.

Does the instrument ever reach vacuum? There should be a readout somewhere that tells you what the vacuum is and whether it is acceptable, although I'm not familiar with that particular instrument. If it isn't reaching vacuum, perhaps it is preventing you from turning on your source gas / heater and starting a run. Failure to reach vacuum could be due to turbo failure (mentioned above), rough pump failure, or a leak.

the noise soulds like a loose belt in a car, but a bit lower pitch. It only makes the sound for about a minute then continues to pump down to vacuum without any problems.

I talked to a Waters tech and he suspect there is a damaged power supply, which could have blown a few boards. OMG.... :shock:

Well, the tech support people will be able to help you better than I can. I can say that in my experience when a turbo fails, the noise is continuous and only gets worse with time, until complete failure happens.

Thanks for your information MG.

Tech guy came and replaced a control board, everything is back up and running. :D
5 posts Page 1 of 1

Who is online

In total there are 27 users online :: 0 registered, 0 hidden and 27 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 4374 on Fri Oct 03, 2025 12:41 am

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests

Latest Blog Posts from Separation Science

Separation Science offers free learning from the experts covering methods, applications, webinars, eSeminars, videos, tutorials for users of liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, sample preparation and related analytical techniques.

Subscribe to our eNewsletter with daily, weekly or monthly updates: Food & Beverage, Environmental, (Bio)Pharmaceutical, Bioclinical, Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry.

Liquid Chromatography

Gas Chromatography

Mass Spectrometry