HP5890 Connection to Computer

[Iordan1]

Hello everybody.

I work for a startup company in Phoenix, AZ. We recently bought an HP 5890 Series II GC.
We are having trouble getting the GC to communicate with our computer. The GC has a 19242-60030 board with 12 pins. We purchased an Agilent 19242-60500 cable that connects to the 12 pin output labeled "Instrument Network" and has a serial 25 pin connector on the other side (the connector only has 4 pins, 1,2,3 & 7). The 25 pin connector is attached to a 25 pin gender changer which is attached to a 25 pin null modem cable. The null modem cable terminates in a DB9 pin connector which is attached to a DB9-to-USB cable.

HP5890 > RS-232C > 19242-60500 > 25 pin gender changer > null modem 25 pin to 9 pin > DB9 pin to USB > computer

I turn on the GC, connect it to the computer and open up UniChrom. In UniChrom I open the "HP 5890" GC, whose drivers I have installed. It tries to establish a connection but give me an error message that reads:

Can not open Instrument "HP5890".
Possible reasons:
1. Instrument is not ON.
2. Program can not gain access to the instrument.
3. Wrong instrument configuration.
4. Temporary problems with Instrument. Please try again.

We would like to make sure that the GC will communicate with the software (UniChrom) before we purchase it.
Advice, questions, opinions are welcome.
Thank you.

[muGC]

These links may be helpful for you:

http://www.unichrom.com/hpx890/hpx890e.shtml

http://www.unichrom.com/hpx890/hpx890upe.shtml

It appears that the INET port that you are using will not work.

[Iordan1]

Thank you for the reply.

I have read the pages that were included and still have not been able to figure out what is wrong.

What do you mean when you say that the INET port may not work?

[KM-USA]

If you were using Chemstation like Revision A of 5890 vintage, I could probably offer help, maybe even in person, I'm in Phoenix area a lot. But I'm not familiar with UniChrome.

[MSCHemist]

I have mine running Using Chemstation MSD B version on Windows 2000 SP4 and it is all hooked up via HPIB.

[Bigbear]

Do you have the "kit" that has the 232 and HPIB connections on the back? If not I think you need it. I had to install it in order to connect to chemstation. I would assume you would also need this to connect to another software package. BTW you would also need a HPIB board in your computer.

[Iordan1]

The 5890 does not have an HPIB board, which is why would like to use UniChrom software to control the gc and analyse the data. In order to connect to ChemStation we need to purchase the HPIB board.

Is there no way to connect from the 19242-60030 RS-232 Interface to a computer?

[KM-USA]

The 5890 does not have an HPIB board, which is why would like to use UniChrom software to control the gc and analyse the data. In order to connect to ChemStation we need to purchase the HPIB board.

Do you have the part number for the GC HPIB board you need?

I also have quite a few HPIB boards that go into the computer, if you need those.

[catalyticwreck]

Hello everybody.

I work for a startup company in Phoenix, AZ. We recently bought an HP 5890 Series II GC.
We are having trouble getting the GC to communicate with our computer. The GC has a 19242-60030 board with 12 pins. We purchased an Agilent 19242-60500 cable that connects to the 12 pin output labeled "Instrument Network" and has a serial 25 pin connector on the other side (the connector only has 4 pins, 1,2,3 & 7). The 25 pin connector is attached to a 25 pin gender changer which is attached to a 25 pin null modem cable. The null modem cable terminates in a DB9 pin connector which is attached to a DB9-to-USB cable.

HP5890 > RS-232C > 19242-60500 > 25 pin gender changer > null modem 25 pin to 9 pin > DB9 pin to USB > computer

I turn on the GC, connect it to the computer and open up UniChrom. In UniChrom I open the "HP 5890" GC, whose drivers I have installed. It tries to establish a connection but give me an error message that reads:

Can not open Instrument "HP5890".
Possible reasons:
1. Instrument is not ON.
2. Program can not gain access to the instrument.
3. Wrong instrument configuration.
4. Temporary problems with Instrument. Please try again.

We would like to make sure that the GC will communicate with the software (UniChrom) before we purchase it.
Advice, questions, opinions are welcome.
Thank you.

I have the exact same set up and the exact same issue. Have you been able to get in touch with anyone at UniChrom by email or found out how to make it work? (I as well work for a small company)

I also examined the Instrument Log and discovered this:

Code: Select all

2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	=== Start device config ===
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param DevName=HP5890
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param DevType=GC
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param Producer=Hewlett-Packard Inc
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param InfName=hp5890.inf
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param DriverName=hp5890.dll
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param DriverFreq=20
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param @=Autosampler GC1
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param IgnoreDetect=0
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param DeviceType=2
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	param ComName=COM7
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	=== End device config ===
2015-02-12 13:00:17.897	HP5890A: I0: [begin] Waiting device to settle
2015-02-12 13:00:19.221	HP5890A: I0: Not found at COM7
2015-02-12 13:00:19.299	HP5890A: I0: Device not opened
2015-02-12 13:00:27.949	HP5890A: I0: [end] Waiting device to settle

I can verify that the GC should be connected at COM7.

These documents led me to believe that the connection configurations we have were viable:
http://www.unichrom.com/hpx890/hp5890%2 ... %20eng.pdf
http://www.unichrom.com/hpx890/hpx890e.shtml
http://www.unichrom.com/hpx890/hpx890upe.shtml

[catalyticwreck]

Through contact with Anton at UniChrom the issue is to be had with a bug in the configuration editor.

Everyone who has tried this 19242-060030 with RS232C configuration since Nov. 2014 should uninstall unichrom and the drivers and redownload from the website and reinstall. This will fix all problems. At least it just did for me!

Dear Andrew!

Got it.
Because of a bug - introduced in November 2014, configuration editor (CE) incorrectly shows you three selection items for device types instead of 2.

Please note - 1st and 2nd and essentially the same.

Actually instrument driver supports two device types:

DeviceType=0 - 19257-600xx HPIB/RS DICE board
DeviceType=1 - 19242-600xx RS-232 comm board.

Reading DeviceType=2 from config - driver assumes it is 5890 Series II, but debug erroneously prints 5890A.

Please uninstall UniChrom and install freshly downloaded from our site.
Version is the same but Configuration editor and driver are fixed.

please try connecting again,

with best regards,
Anton

[Iordan1]

Thank you for the information, Andrew.
I had already reinstalled UniChrom to no avail. I have resolved the issue, which for us was an incorrectly wired Agilent cable.