Error during autotune

[JFo]

Hey,

I have tried googling the error and can't find information on it anywhere. When I do an autotune I get this message appearing:

GetGainData prematurely terminated valid range for EMvolts is 0 to 3000.

The tune completes and the report looks ok, however this is anew message and I would like to know what it means. We are using a 6890GC and a 5973 MSD

Thanks,
Jade

[Bigbear]

Maybe a corrupt autotune. Try one of the othet tunes. If they are ok call Agilent to get help loading a new tune.

[LWC]

I have a 5975 and it started giving me that error when my electric multipier was going bad. I replaced it before it died and I haven't had any isssues since.

[aldehyde]

Yeah it means that it couldn't fulfill the algorithm's target requirements without increasing the emvolts to 3000 (max). I've seen this on systems that were working fine, but it could indicate some kind of problem. What is the emvolts at in your last few tunes? Have the other voltages changed dramatically? What is your peak shape and sensitivity like? Normal?

[jvettleson]

Yeah it means that it couldn't fulfill the algorithm's target requirements without increasing the emvolts to 3000 (max). I've seen this on systems that were working fine, but it could indicate some kind of problem. What is the emvolts at in your last few tunes? Have the other voltages changed dramatically? What is your peak shape and sensitivity like? Normal?

I've only ever solved this problem by replacing the EM. I've seen this happen when the voltage is around 1900 or above during an autotune. Like a previous post said, it's not able to meet the gain criteria before the voltage hits 3000.

You could swith to relative tune parameters rather than gain tune, but MSD Chemstation likes to bark at you and prompt to change to a gain tune parameters.

[JFo]

Thanks guys. Not really what I wanted to hear needing a new EM. Our EM volts are around 2000 and we were thinking of doing a clean soon. The auto-tune won't complete now and is saying the peak widths are unstable and the EMVolts cannot cope with the instability.

Is it possible the source is just dirty? Or would it more likely be that we need a new EM? :S

[Redi]

Can you see the Cal Gas peaks? Shapes are ok or the problem starts before? I´ve had problems like that with dirty ion source or so much ions at the chamber (my column has broken at the transferline ferrule).

Good luck!