Chromatography Forum

I'm having several problems with GALAXIE and GC3900.
Galaxie and GC3900 are not running using the company network, they are linked by wire, even so the communication is not working properly.
Galaxie version we are using is 1.8 upgraded to 1.9.
We are experiencing many problems since the equiment was instaled (2 years ago).
Anybody knows how to solve such problems ?

By the way, is there any software with can replace GALAXIE ?

thanks

Kandrai
Brazil

While you do not say what the problem is and I assume you are attempting full instrument control....

A quick and dirty solution.
Use the star box as data collection only, ie analogue.

Instrument oven, injector etc contolled on the GC with the star box on external event trigger from the GC start button.
This removes the need for drivers.

Check with Varian if the 3900 drivers have know bugs or any updates available. Has there been any firmware issues with the instruments, that kind of thing. If may be necessary to update the firmware on the GC.
We experienced this firmware conflict/problem with an early Agilent 6890.

If you have a service contract use the resource to help resolve the problem.

You can use EZChrom Elite from Agilent to control the 3900 GC. contact your local representative.

dataapex.com offers a system called Clarity Lite. This might work as well.

We currently run 6 3900s through Galaxie. Our version of Galaxie is client/server but the 3900s need local acquisition servers. We've been using them for a couple of years with no communication problems.

Are you using a Star integrator box or direct connection via RJ45 network connections? The latter is the simplest way to set the GCs up (in my opinion)

Others have mentioned possible alternatives to Galaxie but Galaxie is one of the better ones out there and I've used quite a few of them over there.

Rich

The GC3900 firmware doesn't like some company networks (too much broadcasts) and starts crashing in this situation. Usually, the best solution is to use a dedicated subnet with only the 3900 GCs. If you have a single 3900, you can simply connect it with a second network card with a cross-over network cable to the Galaxie computer.
If your problem persists, you'd better ask your local Galaxie specialist, or Varian Field Service Engineer.

As Agilent are in the process of acquiring Varian will Galaxie survive? or will the varian instrument control be rolled into chemstation or EZ chrom (if it already hasn't)

Now that is a very good question. Unfortunately I don't know the answer. We use both chemstation and Galaxie on site here with Galaxie taking over method by method so I would hope Galaxie would continue since we've only had it a couple of years. I also feel that Galaxie is superior to both Chemstation and EZ Chrom, but that's just a personal opinion.

Rich