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Autosampler arm releases samples prior to needle seat

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 5:48 pm
by Blakey
I am using an Agilent 1100 series HPLC. The sample arm is releasing the samples from the back row before reaching the needle seat. During an analysis the arm froze in position 100. I shutdown the machine and restarted and reset the injector. It now works except for the back row (i.e., positions 10, 20, 30 ....100). I have reset the injector several times and it has not helped. Any ideas?

Re: Autosampler arm releases samples prior to needle seat

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:28 am
by bunnahabhain
I had some fun with an older 1100 autosampler early last year. In my case, the positions were not found correctly any more, this was more pronounced in the back row and towards higher sample numbers (the far right edge of the sample tray). I tried resetting multiple times, this helped a bit. I tried flashing the firmware (up- and downgrade) but this made the device incompatible with MassLynx 4.1 (*sigh*). Finally, we did not find a solution but ended up in using Agilent's exchange program - we traded it in for a refurbished model.
I am sure this was not a mechanical defect but some weird software issue. So if you are free of choice for the firmware version, try the newest one that's available (http://www.chem.agilent.com/_layouts/ag ... whid=69761), or try some older versions.

Good luck!
Jörg

Edit: Looks funny, but destroys needles:
Image

Obviously not only the far right edge but also the front left edge were affected.

Re: Autosampler arm releases samples prior to needle seat

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:30 am
by kubowicz.tomasz
Hello

I'd recommend:
-reload firmware (or update)
-sampler alignment procedure
- "cold start" procedure (you can find it in service manual)

Regards

Tomasz Kubowicz