HP 5890A and the right Chemstation

[beardguy]

Hi all,

We've recently acquired a HP 5890A GC with 7673A Autosampler. The computer it came with, however, is Windows 3.1 with such an old version of Chemstation that I don't even recognize the version # (B.01.02). I'd like to set it up on a newer computer by switching in the HP-IB 82335 card.

Two issues:

1) The new computer with the ISA port is currently Win98. I know officially the card is not supported, but before I go reformatting, I just wanted to check to see if anyone has used a 82335 card in Win98 without problem.

2) I'd also like to use a newer version of Chemstation. Again, officially, Win98 is not supported for any version. I know A.06.03 works in Win95, and I have access to a license here, but unfortunately I can't find the CD. I can find the A.07.0x, but this is said not to work on Win95 or 98. Moreover, the 82335 card is said not to work in WinNT.

Basically, my dilemma: reformat to Win95, use the 82335 card, and try & find the A.06 disk OR reformat to WinNT, find a new 82335 card, and use the A.07 disk. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

PS: I've been following http://www.sepsci.com/chromforum/viewtopic.php?t=7628 as well since it is a similar situation, but I'm still not sure what way to go.

[shaun78]

The B revisions of the chemstation software should be much more recent than the A revisions of the software.

B.01.02 was released in Aug 2004.

[beardguy]

Ah, yes, that's what I thought as well, that number didn't make any sense to me. So I did more digging around on the computer and, yeah, I must have been looking at the wrong thing. The actual version I currently have is:

HP 3365 Series II Chemstation A.03.21

[Consumer Products Guy]

Well, I thought a 5890A couldn't be computerized, only a Series II, so what do I know? Anyway, if you would like to try out A.06.03, which was provided free of charge as Y2K software, that would work on your Windows 95. I've never tried it or any Agilent on Win98, but we do run A.06.03 GC on a Windows 2000 system, and all I've noticed is a one-box error message when we "open" a ChemStation "Instrument" with the shortcut. You'll need to provide your E-mail address, I made a self-extracting zip file for this a while ago. You already have a license, so this would be just replacement media.

By the way, in actual differences to the operator or GC, doesn't seem to be much difference in A.06 through A.09, maybe in computer-ese. However, once you choose "enhanced integrator" and save the method, you cannot go back to standard integrator (which I like better) unless you load up a Method that has that, and start again from there.

[beardguy]

OK, I sent you the email, but in case I got your address wrong, mine is my username here at the forum AT gmail.com

[Ron]

It's been a long time, but I think there were multiple A and B releases of ChemStation. The original releases were on the "Alice" platform, and the Windows 3.1 versions were B.xx.xx. When the upgraded software came out, the platform was "Asterix" (sp?), and the version number was reset to A.xx.xx.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but your B version of software is older than the A versions that are being discussed. If I remember correctly, the early a versions supported the older HPIB cards.

Good luck.

[beardguy]

Success.

Having not heard any experience using Win98, I decided to reformat to Win95. With the help of CPG, I was able to install Chemstation A.06 and have it communicate with my 5890A (HPIB). An 'error window' pops up when opening the program, but is irrelevant.

For reference, by the way, on the older versions of Chemstation (Windows 3.1 and such), the version # reported differs whether you are looking at the program with a GC running, or with none loaded - so be careful on that.

Thanks all for your help - now onto the task of dealing with all the quirks on the GC-side of things.