Chromatography Forum

We had a power surge on the circuit that feeds the computer which controls our 6890 GC. The surge protector was destroyed, but the computer rebooted without issue and seems to be operating normally. The problem is when opening Chemstation (version 06.04 on Windows NT), Chemstation freezes at the "Initializing Instrument" stage. There is at least partial communication between the cpu and the GC, because when Chemstation is opened, the GC's Display reads: "HP Chemstations" for about 3-5 seconds.

To try and fix the problem, we have performed the following, per the instruction of Agilent tech support:
1. Reseated the GPIB cable and swapped it with cables known to be functional.
2. Restored default method and sequence in Win.ini
3. Performed routine system maintenance including clearing temp files, setting the system standby to "NONE" in the BIOS, deleting and printer spool files, and checking the HDD for errors.
4. Reinstalled Chemstation and IO Libraries, manually reconfigured the hp82351 (bus 30, address 15, logical unit 7, system controller checked)
5. Purchased a replacement GPIB card, reinstalled IO Libraries, and again manually reconfigured the hp82351.

We have the same problem after trying all these "fixes."

Any ideas from the experts?

You DID type in hp82341 even though you have a #82351 GPIB board, correct?

I'd also confirm in Configuration Editor that the address codes for the 6890 and its injector are what they should be.

And turn everything off, and then turn on and try.

We have A.06.03 on NT4 computer, but with a 5890 GC, works fine.

You DID type in hp82341 even though you have a #82351 GPIB board, correct?

Yes, it's specified to do that for the manual configuration.

I'd also confirm in Configuration Editor that the address codes for the 6890 and its injector are what they should be. And turn everything off, and then turn on and try.

Confirmed and power cycled.

We have A.06.03 on NT4 computer, but with a 5890 GC, works fine.

Yes, our cpu has worked reliably with the 6890 for about 12-13 years.

What are the chances that the problem is in the GC's main board? The GPIB plugs straight into the main board on the 6890, and the power spike that went through the cpu's surge protector was severe.

Get the RS-232 null-modem cable, connect to GC "modem" port at rear side and try our solution:
http://www.unichrom.com/hp6890/Agilent% ... %20eng.pdf
to test if you GC is alive.

Consider examining UniChrom\log\i0.log - if the instrument answers.

Then change com port name to Agilent IOLIBS name "hp82341" - and try again.

Btw - HPIOLIBS and VISA names - must be different.
ChemStation requires predefined name.
UniChrom requires hp* or gp* names for GPIB communication.