Clearing the Acquisition Queue Task File in ICP-MS MassHunter Software

Answer

This Information Applies To: Agilent ICP-MS MassHunter Software revisions 4.x and 5.x

Issue

How to clear or archive the acquisition queue? How to resolve queue task file errors?

Background

The Acquisition Queue (Figure 1) lists all tasks completed by the instrument in the ICP-MS MassHunter Software. The Acquisition Queue information is saved in the QueueTask.xml configuration file. When the QueueTask.xml configuration file becomes too large, it will slow down the MassHunter software. It is important to regularly archive or clear the queue.

Figure 1. Acquisition Queue - MassHunter 5.1

The QueueTask.xml file can become corrupt, leading to software error messages such as:

• “Failed to open queue task file. Root element is missing.” when opening ICP-MS MassHunter.
• “The given key was not present in the dictionary.” when starting a new batch and adding it to the queue.
• “Cannot find queued task in the context.” when starting a new batch and adding it to the queue.

To archive the queue, or resolve one of the errors above, follow the instructions in this article to rename the QueueTask.xml file.

Steps to Follow

1. Close all MassHunter software windows and/or error messages and restart the computer.
2. Open File Explorer and browse to C:\Agilent\ICPMH\1 folder (Figure 2).
   

   Tip: If the Agilent folder is not on the C drive, check D:\Agilent\ICPMH\1.

   
   
   Figure 2. C:\Agilent\ICPMH\1\ folder
   1. QueueTask.xml file
   
   

3. Right click the QueueTask.xml file (Figure 2; Item 1) and click Rename. Type a new name the file, for example add a date to the end of the file with the format __DDMMMYYYY (Figure 3).
   

   
   
   Figure 3. Renamed file to QueueTask_DDMMMYYYY
   
   

4. Open the MassHunter Software and go to the Acquisition Queue. The Acquisition Queue table will now be empty and a new QueueTask.xml will be created.

Learn how to effectively maintain your Agilent ICP-MS System: Agilent 7800/7850/7900 ICP-MS with MassHunter Agilent 8900 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS with MassHunter e-learning courses available from Agilent education