Connecting Varian Prostar 335 to PC (Galaxie) using Ethernet

[derekjacks]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently assisting a fellow faculty member at our university in trying to get her old Varian LC system back online after a year of being neglected. The setup is as follows:

- Varian Prostar 210 pumps (there are two of them)
- Varian 410 autosampler (although my friend says she does manual injections only)
- Varian Prostar 335 DAD
- Computer (Windows XP) running Galaxie software

The pumps and autosampler are connected to the computer through an RS-232 serial cable. The DAD is connected to the computer by an ethernet cable directly. There is no server - this is a standalone setup in a small lab.

Last year, the DAD refused to communicate with the computer and the system was shut down and neglected for a year. Recently, my colleague called in an Agilent person for $1500 who could not figure it out.

My colleague purchased another Prostar 335 (used off ebay) in case it was a problem with the hardware itself but she encountered the same problems. After the visit from the Agilent rep, the software was removed and reinstalled so basically I was starting from scratch when I worked on it.

Here's what I've done so far (from scratch).

- Galaxie software was cleanly installed before I arrived
- Installed Varian LC drivers from CD
- Ran Galaxie Configuration Manager Software
- Got the pumps responding again by setting up "communication engine configuration" for RS-232(PC) and following the prompts. I can now turn the pumps on and off using the software so I'm assuming its ok

- Running into problems connecting 335 detector to computer by ethernet cable. I've tried following the instructions in the manual for the driver as follows (please note I'm not a networking expert):

- Plugged ethernet cable into computer and detector. Windows network properties says "limited to no connectivity" yet gives me an IP address and subnet mask
- Used "Bootp" setup tool in Galaxie configuration manager
- using the autodetect feature it picks up the mac address of the 335 detector (most of the time anyway). A column appears for an IP address (defaulted to 0.0.0.0) - I enter a random value for this (since it's the not the same as my computer's IP address right?)

- To test the instruments, I set up a system in Galaxie configuration manager with the instruments that are attached to the computer. When I click on the DAD (335) tab, it comes up asking for an IP address but when I type in the IP address I gave the instrument in the bootp settings and click "check availability" - it keeps saying "not available" and I have no control over the detector.

I have tried fiddling with my computer's TCP/IP settings more times than I can count including manually assigning my computer a random IP address and so forth but nothing is working. I've also tried changing the ethernet cables and trying the second (backup) detector, no luck.

Any hints would be greatly appreciated!

TLDR: Can't connect a Varian Prostar 335 to a computer running galaxie using an ethernet cable (the machines won't talk to each other) despite trying many things as detailed above.

[antonk]

Try to
manually assign PC IP address 192.168.0.200
and detector IP to 192.168.0.201

[derekjacks]

Try to
manually assign PC IP address 192.168.0.200
and detector IP to 192.168.0.201

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately it did not work.

[Chris0000]

Hello

Some hints to the 335:
- if you have a direct connection between computer and 335, you will have to use a cross-type ethernet cable. Even if no connection to galaxie is existing, a plugged ethernet cable results in a "connection" symbol in the windows taskbar.
- assign fix IPs as antonk did write.
- with the 335, a software called "polyverify" is deliverd on CD. If you have this software I recommend, to check if the detector connects to polyverify. So you can check, if your Galaxie or Windows/the detector is the problem
- in galaxie, you have to configure the ethernet settings in "communication engine configuration" and set up the detector in "edit system"
- check if some security software is blocking ethernet communications - I recommend to temporary deactivate it.
- check if the ethernet adapter of the computer is OK

best regards
Chris

[derekjacks]

Hello

Some hints to the 335:
- if you have a direct connection between computer and 335, you will have to use a cross-type ethernet cable. Even if no connection to galaxie is existing, a plugged ethernet cable results in a "connection" symbol in the windows taskbar.
- assign fix IPs as antonk did write.
- with the 335, a software called "polyverify" is deliverd on CD. If you have this software I recommend, to check if the detector connects to polyverify. So you can check, if your Galaxie or Windows/the detector is the problem
- in galaxie, you have to configure the ethernet settings in "communication engine configuration" and set up the detector in "edit system"
- check if some security software is blocking ethernet communications - I recommend to temporary deactivate it.
- check if the ethernet adapter of the computer is OK

best regards
Chris

Thank you. Please note the following, which we tried yesterday upon the advice of another colleague.

- We made sure the ethernet cable was cross wired. We also tried normal cables using an ethernet switch
- In every case we can successfully ping the detector using the IP address I assigned in bootp (the same ones antonk posted)
- In case the ethernet card we have is too fast (it's built into the motherboard actually), I borrowed a PCI 10/100 card and installed it, and connected there, no change
- When I use the borrowed PCI card, the cable connecting the instrument MUST be cross wired or there is no connection. With the built in motherboard, I can ping the instrument regardless of which cable is used

- Your suggestion of setting up ethernet settings in "communication engine configuration" is something I have NOT done since it wasn't in the manual and I thought that page was only for instruments connected through the old ribbon cables. I instead have been using Bootp to assign the IP address of the instrument (and the mac address is found for the detector)

- All firewalls, etc have been deactivated

- I also uninstalled service pack 3 in case that was causing any issues

- The same problem keeps happening: I set up the system in galaxie configuration manager (with the detector added), but there is no functionality on the detector page (all buttons greyed out for turning lamps on, etc) although it DOES tell me the lamp is off and "no faults". When I click on the settings pages, I enter the IP address I assigned the instrument, then click "check availability" and the top of the screen says "testing availability" and then ALWAYS says "NOT AVAILABLE" after a couple seconds. This is where we've been stuck constantly.

[Chris0000]

- Your suggestion of setting up ethernet settings in "communication engine configuration" is something I have NOT done since it wasn't in the manual and I thought that page was only for instruments connected through the old ribbon cables. I instead have been using Bootp to assign the IP address of the instrument (and the mac address is found for the detector)

I am sorry I think I did mix this, but you did the right configuration with bootP.

Even if can see the detector window and a "no faults" message, you dont have a connection to the detector yet - this is just the standard display. For a successful connection, the state of the 335 will be "available" in configuration manager.
Your galaxie configuration seems to be OK - so If we can exclude a damaged detector, I recommend to focus on the Computer.
Did you try the polyverify software?
If you have more than one ethernet connector, try all connections.
Check in the device manager of windows, if some driver problems for your network cards exist
Maybe you can try a different computer.
Which version of galaxie are you using? Do you have the CD delivered with the detector, on the CD, you can find the matching 335-driver for galaxie.

best regards
Christian

[derekjacks]

- Your suggestion of setting up ethernet settings in "communication engine configuration" is something I have NOT done since it wasn't in the manual and I thought that page was only for instruments connected through the old ribbon cables. I instead have been using Bootp to assign the IP address of the instrument (and the mac address is found for the detector)

I am sorry I think I did mix this, but you did the right configuration with bootP.

Even if can see the detector window and a "no faults" message, you dont have a connection to the detector yet - this is just the standard display. For a successful connection, the state of the 335 will be "available" in configuration manager.
Your galaxie configuration seems to be OK - so If we can exclude a damaged detector, I recommend to focus on the Computer.
Did you try the polyverify software?
If you have more than one ethernet connector, try all connections.
Check in the device manager of windows, if some driver problems for your network cards exist
Maybe you can try a different computer.
Which version of galaxie are you using? Do you have the CD delivered with the detector, on the CD, you can find the matching 335-driver for galaxie.

best regards
Christian

Christian,

Thanks again. Polyverify had not been installed on the computer so I did so and everything is a-ok. It can connect to the detector (either one, we have two) without any problem, the lamps can be turned on and off, etc. The problem seems entirely to be within galaxie configuration manager.

The version of galaxie currently installed is 1.9. The computer is running Windows XP - are they compatible?

Another thing that worries me is that I installed the Galaxie LC drivers not from the Galaxie CD itself (which is missing) but from a separate CD from Varian Australia called "Prostar 335 software" - it includes the drivers for galaxie, not just for the 335 but also for the 210 pumps and a bunch of other stuff. Also, when I "add device" in my system setup in configuration manager, it comes up in the list as "335 LC detector", not "335 photodiode array detector" as the manual says it should. Is this a problem?

One of the biggest stumbling blocks we have is that my colleague can't find her copy of the galaxie installation CD, which might help us. We have the serial number card, but no disk unfortunately.

DJ

[Chris0000]

As the 335 connects to polyverify, you can see, which IP the 335 actually uses. Please assign a IP in the same range to your network card and in the BootP config.
Example: 335: 192.168.10.2 Computer:192.168.10.1
and try to connect in system setup.
After connecting to polyverify, please reboot both, detector and computer before trying to connect with galaxie.

You can find some downloads for galaxie here:
https://www.drivercentral.net/product.h ... 35424701b3

best regards
Chris

[derekjacks]

As the 335 connects to polyverify, you can see, which IP the 335 actually uses. Please assign a IP in the same range to your network card and in the BootP config.
Example: 335: 192.168.10.2 Computer:192.168.10.1
and try to connect in system setup.
After connecting to polyverify, please reboot both, detector and computer before trying to connect with galaxie.

You can find some downloads for galaxie here:
https://www.drivercentral.net/product.h ... 35424701b3

best regards
Chris

Chris,

The IP address that comes up (192.168.0.201) is the same one that I assigned it using bootp in galaxie. The computer is manually set to 192.168.0.200 as per an earlier suggestion. Still not availability.

DJ

[Chris0000]

...maybe you can upgrade the 335 driver by downloading the galaxie files - I did not check the link but I know, galaxie is actually hold by the company persistent systems

I think upgrading/changing the b33drive is the most interesting try.

best regeards
Chris

[derekjacks]

...maybe you can upgrade the 335 driver by downloading the galaxie files - I did not check the link but I know, galaxie is actually hold by the company persistent systems

I think upgrading/changing the b33drive is the most interesting try.

best regeards
Chris

Dear Chris,

One problem is fixed! We now have availability on the detector - the drivers we had on that separate CD were faulty. The Agilent technician brought the Galaxie CD and reinstalled the drivers and it worked. Thanks - that was basically the suggestion you offered earlier but I didn't have time to download the ISO files.

Now we have another issue: We've been trying to set up a practice run to make sure everything works (we are doing manual injections, in external mode using a contact closure on the injection loop). After we set up a method (runtime 5 minutes let's say) - we click start and after the method downloads, it immediately starts running (without waiting for the loop) and then immediately stops and does a postrun without acquiring any data (as if it thinks the runtime is zero).

We've tried this using internal start as well and it waits for us to hit the start button in the software but then immediately stops running after it starts. We've also tried the other detector as well and got the same issue.

Any ideas? Thanks again.
DJ

[derekjacks]

ALL SOLVED!!!

The problem was a mismatch between the drivers he gave us and the version of Galaxie we had installed. He updated us to service pack 3 of version 1.9 and all is good now!

[RogueResearch]

I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find a copy of polyverify? I'd like to keep my 335 DAD running for a while. Thank you!