This Information Applies To: Agilent GC Systems 6890N, 7890A/B, 7820, 8860,8890, Intuvo 9000
Issue
The communication between Agilent GC instrument and the computer (PC) requires an active LAN connectivity. Each part of the instrument-PC network has a unique IP Address, a shared Subnet Mask, and an undefined Gate Way. This ping test verifies the LAN connectivity between PC and instrument. If the pinging is not successful, the customer will not be able to configure the new instrument or the configured instrument would not be online once the acquisition software is launched.
For Standalone workstation, all instrument and the PC will share the first three octets of the IP address, i,e. 192.168.254.xxx. The last octet xxx is unique to each instrument, which could range from 000 to 255. Customarily, the normal setup is xxx = 010 for PC and xxx = 011 for GC. The Subnet Mask (SM) of all instrument should be 255.255.255.000. The Gate Way is normally blank for standalone workstation.
Once all the instrument IP Address, SM, and GW are set up, we perform this ping command to test the connectivity using Windows Command Prompt (CMD.EXE).
Steps to follow
Verify the IP address, subnet mask (SM), and gateway (GW) for each instrument. They need to have the same subnet mask (the same first three octets as mention in issue section of this article).
Figure 1: 7890 GC IP Address on GC LED Display
Record the IP Address of each instrument that is connected to the same PC.
On the PC, select Windows Start and search for cmd.exe (Command Prompt).
Figure 2: Searching for Command Prompt on Windows 10. Windows Start > Typing CMD
Ping each instrument IP address by typing the command at the blinking cursor: ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. There is a space between the command ping and the IP address.
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Tips: Sometimes, leading zeros within the octets could cause issue during pinging or configuration of the instrument. Try pinging and configuring with and without leading zero. For example, 010.126.254.011 is the full expression that matches the instrument display, however if this does not ping, try to ping 10.126.254.11
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Verify the results to make sure that all four communication packages were received with zero loss.
Figure 3: A successful pinging of instrument with IP address 192.168.254.11
Figure 4: An unsuccessful pinging of instrument with IP address 192.168.254.11.
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Tips: Frequent error messages are "Time Out" & also “Destination Host Unreachable”. Please add about error result of “Destination Host Unreachable” in case of two possible cause 1. Either your PC does not have a route to the destination that you are trying to ping or 2. A remote router has reported that it does not have a route to the destination you are pinging.
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Proceed to configure the instrument inside the software or launch the online instrument after successfully pinging all IP addresses.
If the instrument does not ping after all verification of the IP address, SM, and GW, connect the instrument LAN cable directly to the computer to see if the Internet switch (if used) is having issue.
If the instrument is still not ping after all verification of IP address, SM, and GW, and the verification of the Internet switch functionality, please contact Agilent Technical Support.
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Learn how to effectively operate your Agilent GC:
GC-MULTI-1120e - Agilent GC and GC Sampler Control in Non-Agilent Data Systems e-learning course available from Agilent education
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