Chromatography Forum

Hi,

I having some kind of communication problem between my Tekmar 7000 headspace unit and the Agilent 6890 equipped w/ a 5973 MSD that it's attached to.

Basically, when the autosampler injects, the GC Oven program starts as expected, but the MSD is not turned on and Chemstation does not create a datafile for the run. There's no problem using the GC-MSD with manual or ALS sample introduction.

The instrument was set up and qualified with the headspace in place 6 months ago or so and has only been used for ALS work since. A new project has come in that requires headspace and I'm now at this roadblock.

Both remote cables are solidly connected and there must be at least some communication between the two pieces of equipment given that the oven ramp begins as expected. In the method being used, the injector is selected as 'external' and the 'Use MS' checkbox in Chemstation is indeed checked. The instrument has not been physically moved since the initial qualification.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Kent

If I read your post correctly you swiched from a headspace unit to an ALS. Now you are back to using the headspace unit. When you plugged in your ALS, your method changed. Edit your method until you get to the inlet and injector page. You should have:

sample inlet: GC
injection source: Manual
injecton port: whichever you use

This is how my method is configured for a Tekmar purge and trap.

Bear