Chromatography Forum

Hello,

We recently inherited an HP5972 GC/MS system with a 7673 autosampler, running off of a Windows NT 4.0 OS, with ChemStation's "B" series software (G1701BA). The unit has had very little hours on it, but I'm not quite sure what has, or had been done with it, other than it being unboxed, and pumped down for a short period of time. Unfortunately, the people who "ran" it, are no longer affiliated with our lab. The problem, once I set the unit up and got it configured, is the autosampler itself seems incapable of doing a fast injection, despite the configuration settings in the software which have been set to tell it to. We have a similar 5972 in our lab, which I copied configuration-wise, to match the settings with that instrument. Everything else seems OK, except when it begins the injection, the plunger slowly descends down to the septa at the injection port, then there is a noticeable shudder from the tower after it injects, at which point we get an syringe error message from the tower. We are using a proper Agilent autosampler 10ul syringe as well. I've switched controller boxes with one that we know works, and also switched autosampler towers with the other 5972. Nothing is working. I'm wondering if it's something in the software, or a macro that is corrupted. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

We also have a similar system, operational. I'd make sure that the stainless steel guide rods in the autosampler tower are clean (and NOT lubricated !!!). Also, make sure the drive belts are not too loose.

In other words, I don't think it's software-related. You can go through the injection steps stepwise using the buttons on the tower, might help isolate the issue.

Usually you'll get an error message if the belt doesn't move correctly. However, you might try the tips given here: http://www.cssco.com/files/7673%20Cleaning%20&%20PM.pdf

IF you have to change the belt be sure to mark it's position!

Hi Af66,
I'm assuming that because you have swapped controller boxes and towers, from instruments you know to work, have you confirmed that these swapped out parts work as expected on the known working instruments?
What type of inlet does the GC have, as I have observed that for PTV inlets and cold on-column injection ports, there is a forced slow down in the plunger injection speed, irrespective of the settings you programme in the software.
the above does not address your problem of the tower shuddering after injecting and coming up with an error message, I am only mentioning it, as the slow injection speed and shuddering error may not be related.

Alex

Thanks for all your suggestions. To further the discussion, today we swapped the 7673 from it's GC, to the other 5972 GC/MS system that is configured for fast injection, and has the controller box. When we tried that, we were able to get it to produce the fast injection, like we are attempting on the other one without any success. So the tower is capable of fast injection, and seeing that it can do it on a second GC/MS system, my thought is that there is nothing wrong with the tower itself, but something inherent with the configuration on the other GC/MS, even though the software is set with similar conditions as the second 5972 in our room.
Based on this, and everything we've tried prior, I'm still suspecting a software issue with Chemstation on the "inherited" GC/MS...if anybody has any thoughts on this either confirming, or pointing in another direction, I'm all ears, but I think with this last test, I can eliminate the tower as a source of error.
Oh, and by the way, it is a split/splitless injector...no PTV...both instruments are configured with the same type injector.