Chromatography Forum

Hi all,
My old GCMS instrument computer died (running Win XP) and my only replacement is a Win7 64-bit system. I am using ChemStation D.02.00 SP2.

I have managed to install ChemStation and run the instrument configuration (using a combination of "Run as Administrator" and "Compatibility Mode" for Win XP SP3). But when ChemStation starts it has trouble loading onto the GC.

During ChemStation startup the message bar indicates it located the MS and the GC and the computer at the correct ip addresses. But then the status switches to "Offline" and after a few minutes a pop-up message says "Cannot bring up GC" followed by "The ChemStation did not complete its initialization cycle".

I can ping the GC and MS ok.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

I have had that happen to me and it required a restart of the computer to fix. If it still won't work after a restart of the computer it could be something in the Agilent I/O files that show up in the tray.

Also if you are on a Jet Direct interface, you may need to upgrade that to a newer one, we had trouble getting one of ours to work, though it was a pre 6890N GC that was converted from HPIB to Ethernet. The card that was first installed would not hold connection and a newer one did. I know the J4100A JetDirect works with XP, but not sure if that one will work with W7.

Are you sure Chemstation works with a 64-bit operating system? Every recent OpenLab/EZchrom workstation we've purchased from Agilent uses 32-bit Win7.

If your instruments are not configured to static IP (i.e. you have to assign IP dynamically)
just DO NOT USE Agilent BOOTP server.

use this http://tftpd32.jounin.net/
or tune Linux DHCP in your network.

I have had that happen to me and it required a restart of the computer to fix. If it still won't work after a restart of the computer it could be something in the Agilent I/O files that show up in the tray.

Also if you are on a Jet Direct interface, you may need to upgrade that to a newer one, we had trouble getting one of ours to work, though it was a pre 6890N GC that was converted from HPIB to Ethernet. The card that was first installed would not hold connection and a newer one did. I know the J4100A JetDirect works with XP, but not sure if that one will work with W7.

If it is Windows 7 Pro, you can try XpMode.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... px?id=8002

I have had that happen to me and it required a restart of the computer to fix. If it still won't work after a restart of the computer it could be something in the Agilent I/O files that show up in the tray.

Also if you are on a Jet Direct interface, you may need to upgrade that to a newer one, we had trouble getting one of ours to work, though it was a pre 6890N GC that was converted from HPIB to Ethernet. The card that was first installed would not hold connection and a newer one did. I know the J4100A JetDirect works with XP, but not sure if that one will work with W7.

If it is Windows 7 Pro, you can try XpMode.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... px?id=8002

I have had that happen to me and it required a restart of the computer to fix. If it still won't work after a restart of the computer it could be something in the Agilent I/O files that show up in the tray.

Also if you are on a Jet Direct interface, you may need to upgrade that to a newer one, we had trouble getting one of ours to work, though it was a pre 6890N GC that was converted from HPIB to Ethernet. The card that was first installed would not hold connection and a newer one did. I know the J4100A JetDirect works with XP, but not sure if that one will work with W7.

If it is Windows 7 Pro, you can try XpMode.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... px?id=8002

Hi there,
When you start Chemstation do you see anything on the 6890GC screen itself. I can't remember specifically what happens but usually there is a response on the GC screen as the software loads. If you don't see anything then I wonder if the Windows 7 firewall is the problem. Can you turn it off.
Bootp is often a problem but if you can ping the GC and MS then it must be working.

Let me know
Kevin

Hi...i am a new user here. I am trying to get Chemstation ver A10.. to communicate with my 5890 series II GC after upgrading the computer to Windows XP. We have a PCI GPIB card in the computer but only an HPIB card in the GC. Agilent thought this should work. In the configuration, there is only a option to put an address in for a GPIB card. The HPIB address doesn't seem to work. Anybody out there using this version of chemstation with the 5890? Do you need a GPIB card for the GC or did you get it to communicate with the HPIB.

pcb assembly

HPIB and GPIB are essentially the same thing, I think HPIB was just Hewlett Packards proprietary name for them back in the day.

Most have a set of switches on them that you use to set the address physically on the card, then you have to put that number into the software. I would think A10 should still support the HPIB/GPIB interface, but if you also have the 9pin serial port on the computer and instrument you can configure communications that way. I did it once when the HPIB card went out in the computer. Should be instructions in the manuals for that as well.

Hi...i am a new user here. I am trying to get Chemstation ver A10.. to communicate with my 5890 series II GC after upgrading the computer to Windows XP. We have a PCI GPIB card in the computer but only an HPIB card in the GC. Agilent thought this should work. In the configuration, there is only a option to put an address in for a GPIB card. The HPIB address doesn't seem to work. Anybody out there using this version of chemstation with the 5890? Do you need a GPIB card for the GC or did you get it to communicate with the HPIB.

HPIB and GPIB are essentially the same thing, I think HPIB was just Hewlett Packards proprietary name for them back in the day.

Most have a set of switches on them that you use to set the address physically on the card, then you have to put that number into the software. I would think A10 should still support the HPIB/GPIB interface, but if you also have the 9pin serial port on the computer and instrument you can configure communications that way. I did it once when the HPIB card went out in the computer. Should be instructions in the manuals for that as well.

Hatty, the GPIB cable plugs into the GC, right? Then the GC has the GPIB board inside it, good. You'll also need the 9-pin remote cable from the GC plugged into the computer.

The computer itself needs the PCI GPIB card configured. That board should be either an 82341 or an 82350. This can be tricky, as when configuring this through the A.10, you must enter as hp82341 (lower case only) even if the card is actually 82350 (don't ask me why); you must also enter the bus address as 30 (again, don't ask me why).

In Configuration Editor, you must also enter the address for the 5890 itself; most likely this would be the factory address, but you can confirm module address using the front panel. An autosampler would have its own address, and also must be connected with GPIB and remote cable to the control box.

If the system worked before the computer change/death, and you transferred the GPIB board from the old computer to the Windows 7 computer, this should work if configured correctly.

Hi all,
Thanks for the advice and ideas. I contacted Agilent and was informed they would not support the D version of the software on a Win7 computer. So we spent the money to buy the newest version of ChemStation, installed it, and hit the exact same roadblock (failed to initialize the GC).
After a couple more calls to Agilent and updating the firmware on both the GC and the MS it is finally working. Updating only the GC firmware did not solve the problem. Despite the failure to initialize the "GC" it was updating the MS firmware that finally fixed everything. Possibly the software upgrade and GC firmware upgrade was needed as well.
We are now successfully running ChemStation version E.02.02 on a Windows7 64-bit OS operating a 6890N/5975 GC/MS.