Chromatography Forum

I've been trying various things to get this old 5890 II connected to a computer.

Direct GPIB commands return expected results but Chemstation can't seem to bring the GC online. The best it's done is to return the message

"Error controlling GC, opcode: 6"
Does anyone know what this code indicates?

I'm using Chemstation B, msconfig set to find the 5890 at address 15. GPIB is done via an NI GPIB card and configured for the 5890 according to
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/ ... BC005508D4

I've tried various versions of the hp - agilent IO libs the best results are from more recent versions of IO libs, early IO libs can't seem to find the NI GPIB card even when I manual configure HPIO initcfg to see 488.2 on GPIB0 Later versions of IO libs including the latest from Agilent allow the above optcode to return.

On a side note, I've tried Unichrom also, it fails to communicate effectively via GPIB, but RS-232 does work. Is it possible to configure Chemstation to talk via GPIB?

Thanks all,

Are you sure all the switches are properly configured for GPIB communications inside the GC and G1512A autosampler controller if you have one?

I've had a few bugs Using Chemstation MSD B02.00 to run my 5890-FID so much that I was considering getting a third part CDS like Clarity. Right now it is working OK but it was giving me sequence errors and then It was not closing and opening the purge valve when it was supposed to.

The DIP switches on the GPIB interface card are all set as per the 5890 manual. There is no autosampler installed in this system. It's just PC==via GPIB==5890.

Do you know if INET loopback is required when there is no INET needed?

I've been able to get the 5890 to reply to commands via the terminal communications interface in NI's Measurement and Automation.

yep there has to be an Inet cable that goes from the inet in to out even when there is nothing in the network.

The DIP switches on the GPIB interface card are all set as per the 5890 manual. There is no autosampler installed in this system. It's just PC==via GPIB==5890.

Do you know if INET loopback is required when there is no INET needed?

I've been able to get the 5890 to reply to commands via the terminal communications interface in NI's Measurement and Automation.

Probably in Agilent IOlibs you have to configure NI HPIB as SICL instrument, not VXI.
Both Chemstation and UniChrom use sicl32.dll
SICL and VXI instrumets uses same namespace - so you can't name HPIB host adapter gpib0 for VXI and SICL.
AFAIK Chemstation relies on HPIB host adapter named strictly hp82341 regardless of actual type of HPIB.

Inet loopback is REQUIRED. Otherwise you won't get instrument config - because there are no instruments on network (loop broken).

We have the same issue, but we are sure that our GC is connected properly, because it was working a week ago.
Any other ideas what might went wrong?

We didn't change anything except a syringe in autosampler, but that can hardly be a reason for GC to stop communicating.

First off, I've gotten the 5890 working!

Probably in Agilent IOlibs you have to configure NI HPIB as SICL instrument, not VXI.
Both Chemstation and UniChrom use sicl32.dll
SICL and VXI instrumets uses same namespace - so you can't name HPIB host adapter gpib0 for VXI and SICL.
AFAIK Chemstation relies on HPIB host adapter named strictly hp82341 regardless of actual type of HPIB.

Yep, I'm aware of what is needed for HPIB to work properly, I've had it configured this way since the start.

Inet loopback is REQUIRED. Otherwise you won't get instrument config - because there are no instruments on network (loop broken).

Is this only the case when using HPIB/GPIB? I was able to collect data over RS232 using Unichrom demo without INET loopback in place.

In the end I:
*Hardwired the DICE interface card for INET loopback
*Reinstalled Windows XP (sp3)
*Reinstalled NI GPIB Drivers/tools (that came with the NI GPIB card)
*Reinstalled SICL / IOLIBS (vers M I think)
*Reinstalled Chemstation B 01.00

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!