Chromatography Forum

Hi,

I have a problem with ChemStation Instrument Control.. On the Icon Bar where there should appear Inlets and Oven and Detectors etc, I see only Oven Icon. I have two inlets and a TCD and a ECD. I can control the temperatures of the inlets and detectors and switch the detectors on/off and so on but how could I get the icons to the bar?

The thing is, I went through our old equipment storage and found a 5890A with FID/TCD and a 5890-II with FID/ECD. So, I replaced the FID on the 5890-II with the TCD taken from the 5890A. Also, I found an old WinNT PC with ChemStation G1701BA used with a GC-MS. Then, I just connected the GC and the PC together with it HP-IP, and configured a new online instrument on the ChemStation.. and everything seems to work. Only the icons are missing..

Am I missing something here, since usually the icons are there when you fist time fire the system up? (we have two other G1701BAs running with old GC and GC-MS)

I just wanted to ask about this before I reinstall the ChemSation

Where do you mean when you say "icons bar"?
You etiher need to go to the instrument configuration page to "install" the detectors, or if you mean you don't see the detectors on the front page there is a dropdown entitled instrument. Here you can add monitors like inlet,column flow, etc.

I mean the area on Instrument Control window where you should see the icons for Inlet(s), Column, Oven, Detector(s),..

Check the photo here



As you see there is only Oven visible. Never mind the Injector, I connected it just for a test.

Exactly how should the detectors be "installed" in Instrument Configuration page?

In this setup, in the Instrument control window the Instrument dropdown menu does not have Inlet Pressure cntrl or column Flow cntrl.. as you see in the photo. Anyhow, next to this setup I have another setup of 5890-II + MS with the same software and it has all the Icons and controls under Instrument dropdown menu.

Well, could it be that the software installation does not function properly with 5890-II since it was installed for 6890 in the first place.. (and used with 6890+MS)?

I don't mean to hijack the topic but I also have a question about G1701BA.
When I open data analysis in enhanced quantitation the take snapshot function is not present under file. When I open it under standard quantitation overlay chromatograms is not present. Do I really have to keep switching back and forth for both options?. BTW I am only using it for the FID on my 5890 I have no MS on that instrument.

Been a while since BA, but there should be be an " gc and ms monitors" somewhere on one of the drop downs where you can add monitors. I'm on EA and it's under instrument.

MSChemist, I do not believe the snapshot function has ever been available for GC data (annoying, I know - the real time plot is also often misleading, so you just have to wait for the darn thing to finish). And yeah, they made a mess with the various analysis modes and menus. I usually try to find the underlying macro code that the menu points to and hack that up a bit using the command line, but that gets harder with all the different versions floating around.

Regarding the OP, the GC Monitors menu item is visible at the bottom of the drop down menu in the posted photo. I like the BA software, but that instrument control panel is likewise a mess.

That's wierd it works just fine under standard when I take a snapshot of the FID. Then I can't do overlay and I have to switch to enhanced.

Weird thing is that from the GC monitors item I can add only temperature monitors on the screen. There is nothing else I could choose.

Just for curiosity I took one 6890 GC and a 5972 MS, and connected this PC to that hardware combination.. and it works. I can see everything (all menus, monitors, inlets, detectors,etc..), and also add and controll easily everything.

So, since this very PC (and ChemStation software installation) was originally built to a system that had 6890 GC, I suppose that it has something to do with the issue here. Two other ChemStation installations that have been built for 5890s from the beginning work fine. Interesting..

Well, I will now install a "new" PC from the beginning for this 5890 GC, since that should work just like the others.