Chromatography Forum

Hello everyone, and thank you in advanced for any ideas or help.

The issue is with MassLynx V4.1 and detecting the busLAC/E interface card.

The error pops up when selecting "Inlet Method":

"Water Alliance 2795 Communication Error. A GPIB interface board has not been recognised at address 0."

The interface is a busLAC/E PCI card.

This is a fresh OS install of WINXPPRO SP3 and including a fresh install of busLAC/E drivers. The GPIB interface card address can be selected under MassLynx but there does not appear to be any GPIB address configuration specifically for the busLAC/E card anywhere else (e.g.: Device Manager properties for the card).

Any ideas, including palm-to-head no brainers, welcome.

I am an experienced IT, but new to setting up this equipment.

Sincerely,
J

Replace BusLac/E card with a true GPIB Natl. Instrument PCI card with appropriate drivers. Load the drivers and then configure the 2695. BusLac/E cards usually used with Empower software. Note, depending on what MS being used, Empower may control the unit.

I have tried a NI GPIB-PCI card with no success. The instrument (Waters 2795) could not be detected by the NI-GPIB-PCI card. Well, the card could see "something" but did not go any further. MassLynx failed to work as well. In short the NI-GPIB-PCI card does not appear to be compatible with a Waters 2795.

This workstation runs Empower 2 and MassLynx. Ideally we want it connected to a MassSpec ZQ and a Waters 2795&PDA996. The later feeds into the MS ZQ.

But maybe this setup is all wrong your saying? But I am confused why a Waters busLAC/E ($1,000+) card can't see a Waters 2795&PDA996 running Waters MassLynx. Everything is Waters.

Why would a couple hundred dollar card work better than a Waters $1,000 plus card? They are both GPIB.

So mhr311, is your suggestion theoretical or is it 100% the way it is done?

Thank you for your help!

--

P.S.

Also I could not find freely available instrument control drivers for a Waters 2795 using the NI GPIB-PCI:

http://search.ni.com/nisearch/app/main/ ... er=Drivers

The 2795 has to be configured for a specific control module. First, I believe the 2795 has to be at least version 2.0 on its BIOS rev. and to configure, via 2795 keyboard, change controller type to either Masslynx or Empower, noting the bus address being used. Note the 996 will have a bus address as well and must be different. The PCI-GPIB has its own configuration requirements that are addressed via the GPIB configuration (?)editor/program which usually shows up upon installation. You can call it from the program menu.
You can control the ZQ, 2695 and 996 via either Empower or Masslynx, however they are set up differently. Pick which you choose to use and complete the installation, once the GPIB drivers recognize the card, and (for example) you set up Masslynx inlet control with the correct ID addresses. Note you can define the UV (996) as a analog channel under MS Methods and capture the Chro there.

We tested with the NI PCI-GPIB card instead of busLAC/E and the error message in the first post is now gone. Installing fresh National Instruments drivers also helped to provide the ability to configure the address of the PCI card.

This is huge and it means a lot. Thank you so much for your help!

Sincerely,
J

In either case (Masslynx or Empower) the ZQ will connect via network. Note that the busLAC/E card is a chromatographic interface which uses a IEEE-488 connector and is not used in a Masslynx configuration. Chromatography control via Empower has alot more bells and whistles then offered in Masslynx.