Agilent 1100 Configuration Problem

<p>I have an Agilent 1100 which was recently placed on a Chemstation for anual preventative maintenance, the gameboy was also connected for control of the system.  When the system was placed back on Empower, the only module that appears is the DAD, no pump, no injector, and no column heater.  I had the IP address checked, someone said Chemstation might change it, but it was correct, numerous reboots of the LACe and system did not help.  I also tried different ethernet ports on the LACe, thinking maybe a hardware failure on the LACe.   Our IT support person uninstalled and reinstalled through DHCP, and still nothing but the DAD.  Any suggestions ?  We are on Empower2 SR3.</p><p></p><p>Thanks in advance for any help.</p><p></p><p>Mike</p>

Answers

  • Hello Mike,

    You might start with the CAN cables.  The hand held device (gameboy) can be used to see if the modules show up.

    It is possible you might have to do a hard reset of the modules.

    I hope this is helpful.

    Dot

  • The cables appear to be ok, Gameboy sees all the modules, Empower only sees the DAD, which is where the jet direct card is plugged in.  i do not suspect the jetdirect card as it sees the DAD, and don't think it is the CAN network as Gameboy sees everything ok.  Anyother ideas?

  • Hello Mike,

    When using the HP JetDirect card with A1100 modules controlled via Ethernet it may be necessary to force the instrument and JetDirect card back to the factory defaults so the A1100 modules will be assign the appropriate IP address from the Waters DHCP server. This occurs sometime on PC's  that have the  Agilent Bootp server running or if the A110 stack has been re-connected to a system running ChemStation

    When the HP JetDirect card is in a PC that also has the Agilent Bootp server running, as is the case where ChemStation has been installed, it will be necessary to reset the JetDirect back to the factory defaults after each reboot. This will ensure the correct network configurations are enabled for communication with Empower.  If the modules are rebooted or power cycled the Agilent Bootp server will change the network configuration setting, thus preventing the Waters DHCP server from assigning the correct address.

    The way to force a cold-start or reset the card back to factory defaults is by using the module where the JetDirect card is installed.

    Using the following steps:

    • switch off the module hosting the card
    • set it's configuration switches to the value 10000001 (where 1 is up and 0 is down)
    • switch on the  module
    • if necessary, set back the switches to the settings needed

                                                                      

    Note:  If the switches are kept in the position described above, a cold-start on the JetDirect card is performed with every power-cycle.

    You might also want to check the firmware on all modules. It is possible that some of the modules could have updated to a version that might not be compatible.

    Let us know how this works out.

    Dot

  • I'd suggest to change the JetDirect card.  We've had this issue several times and if the CAN cables have been ruled out, replacing the JetDirect card has resolved the problem everytime.

  • Hi Mike,

    I've seen this before and i think it could be tied to the Init. mode in the module. When connecting to Chemstation bootp is used but you need a different setting to enable tcp/ip.

    Power everything off and check the DIP switch settings on the back of the modules. Depending on which LAN card you have there may also be DIP switches on the LAN card which always used to fox me for 5 minutes or so.

    The setting should be in your AG1100 manuals or maybe one of the service guys viewing this will have them.

    Repower up and then go through the gameboy to check and reset the settings on your modules - it's in the file attached

    Hope that helps?