Perkin Elmer 8410 sensor failure

[piracetam]

I just bought an old school PE 8410 w/ FID (250 bucks, i said "what the hell"), and accidentally busted the packed glass column. could this be the cause of the "sensor failure error " I'm getting? PE says they no longer provide support for the 8410, understandably.
the sensor error wasn't displayed prior to the column mishap (the column was pretty old and warped)

this is all new to me, and I look forward to learning all about gc analysis here.

[piracetam]

also, how could I go about connecting this to a comp?
here are the ports





I realize that the Nelson 900 interface is an option, but don't want to have to get it if the Comm port would suffice (though i don't have a 25-to-9 pin cord yet)

[piracetam]

*update* disregard the original issue, I fixed it.