Chromatography Forum

Can I build a quantitation database for FID signals in Chemstation MSD or do I need Chemstation LCGC? I am using Chemstation MSD B01.01 in WinNT to control my 5890-FID and I have several methods with several analytes and it would be much more convenient to do quantitation internally in the software rather than having to do it all in Excel. I tried building a quant database but it brought up the msd stuff asking for quant ions and all.

We have used the MSD software for all our GC as well as GC/MS applications. The methods default to TIC - older versions might give a choice for quant ion, but TIC should be one of those choices.

Possible you would need to pick a GC method from the default methods supplied on installation.

hmm I tried calling Agilent and they said SOL. I thought I'd either buy a CDS for analysis only or see if anyone with an old MSD might want to swap Chemstation MSD B with license for Chemstation GC A05-A09 with license.

The useless FID trace is the major disappointment left with ChemStation E.
I just can't understand why the ones working with Chemstation A-C respectively D-E can't communicate with each other after all these years.

It would also be nice if Chemstation MSD E could pumpdown the instrument correctly. I got called to the plant by a frustrated operator who couldn't pump down the 6890-5973 only to determine the MSD reports its forline pressure as 70mTor and Chemstation interpreted it as 70 Torr and wouldn't activate the high pump. On my 5975 Chemstation E won't activate the high vac sensor unless you cycle it on/off manually from the menu. With Chemstation E it is better to pump down the instrument from the instrument pannel.

However, I really need a calibration table for my 5890-fid. I am going to be running a method with over 20 analytes and I can't print out all the area counts and bring them to my desk to transcribe into Excel. I'll futz with it a bit tomarrow but Agilent told me no go. I've looked at Clarity and Unichrom. Unichrom I'd need to hook the autosampler with INET, Clarity won't control my EPC inlet and I'd need to hook the instrument up with RS-232. Are there any other low cost options or would anyone like to trade Chemstation GC (A05-A09) for my licensed copy of MSD B02

You were right Yama. I loaded the default method and started the quantitation building process and although it had the target and qualifier stuff that was all greyed out and it accepted the total area count from the FID. OK so no need to get new software.