Chromatography Forum

Dear Colleagues,

We recently have communication problems with our Agilent GC-MS 6890-5973. The communication between computer and instruments are lost most of the time. Sometimes when I successfully pinged the instrument, I would be able to bring the instrument online. But often times, pinging failed. After talking to Agilent tech support and some other experts, they suggested either get a new board or re-install the Chemstation. I think it would be better to re-install the software first before spending money on a new board. However, I couldn't find the original CD. Agilent didn't give me the correct version and never responded to my second request. I still have the license number. I wonder if anyone on the forum can send me a copy of the CD?

Many many thanks!

According to the Agilent software compatibility chart

http://www.chem.agilent.com/Library/Sup ... F05030.pdf

The newest version that is compatible with the 5970 is A.03.00 which is the Windows95 version. I don't think I have ever seen the 6890/5970 combination, does the 6890 have a pre-made cutout for the 5970 interface or do you have to cut the opening by hand?

Also D.00.00 does not support GPIB interface so the 5970 would need to have been converted to LAN interface somehow. Was this instrument customized by a third party?

D.01.00 reintroduced the GPIB compatibility, but still not sure it would work with a 5970.

Thanks for the reply, James! Sorry, that was a typo and I have corrected my OP. The MSD is 5973 not 5970. We are using LAN instead of GPIB card to communicate. Most of the time, I could not bring the instrument online. Even if I could by luck, after being idle for a while, it went offline. Agilent suggested to re-install Chemstation, but they do not support this version any more. Our CD must have been lost when the instrument was moved to the new building.

If pinging fails, it has nothing todo with the ChemStation software. It is an indication that you have connection problems.

Gasman

Thanks, Gasman! I guess I will have to buy that communication board...

Are you running the instruments both through a switch and then to the instrument PC or is each one plugged into a dedicated NIC. If you have a builtin NIC for each, you might just check to see that it is working by pluggin in a normal internet line, if you get no internet, the NIC is bad and that's a simple fix. However, if you use a switch so you can plug into a single NIC, you might want to look at the static IP settings for the switch, ensure that the IPs are in an orderly fashion (i.e. PC IP 10.0.0.100, GC IP 10.0.0.101, MS IP 10.0.0.102, your setup might be different) Also, try replacing your switch as well, we recently had a similar issue where it actually was a combination of a bad NIC /AND/ switch, so no matter what, check all of that stuff first before going out of your way for expensive hardware. If none of that fixes it, it could quite possibly be the ethernet logic boards on your GC or MS or both. That might be a bit more hefty of an expense.

Thanks, Segaloco! Haven't got time to work on that GC. Will definitely try what you suggested.