Chromatography Forum

Hello,
I have a problem with autotuning the MS.

Prior to the current error I had the problem, that the autotune resulted in an error message stating that it could not "maintain voltage".

After this I cleaned all the parts of the source. Now the previous problem is gone, but still the autotune fails. It seems I am not getting any signal... just seeing the background noise.

Can someone suggest possible solutions for the problem? Maybe some typical errors for the agilent 7000 series?

Thanks

Do you see the calibration gas peak if you manually turn on the MS (and the calibration gas valve)?

The problem could be caused by:

- Filament broken
- Calibration gas empty or somehow doesn't release into the MS
- A huge leak in the MS, this can completely mask your tuning component

Thanks for your fast reply and your suggestion. I do not see a calibration gas peak. I will check for the calibration gas and filament immediately.

I would not expect a huge leak in the MS, since the vacuum seems to be fine and the pump is operation at around 20W.

I will let you know soon how things work out...

Before the next autotune, try to get a normal signal in manual tune mode first, then do an air/water check.

If your EI source has 2 filaments, you can easily switch between them in the manual tune mode to check if it's the filament.

Also check out http://www.agilent.com/cs/library/userm ... intain.pdf

page 46

I exchanged the filament, and the problem is now back to "can not maintain voltage".

I am not sure what is meant by "get a normal signal in manual tune mode"

I have been working through the troubleshoot guide, but could not find any good ideas for a possible solution.

here a picture from error message
http://imgur.com/a/NhgtD

The problem was found: The Lens-Insulator was damaged. This caused a shortcut between the ion-focus lens and the source body via the setscrew.

Easy fix: Loosen the setscrew to stop the shortcut.

Long-term: replace lens-insulator