Reconfiguring an LC/MS Triple Quadrupole with MassHunter Data Acquisition

Answer

This Information Applies To: Agilent 6400 Triple Quadrupole LC/MS systems, MassHunter Workstation 10.1 or earlier. This article does not apply to MassHunter Workstation 12.0.

Issue

Users need to reconfigure a new LC/MS triple quadrupole after a new MassHunter software installation.

Reconfiguring the LC/MS triple quadrupole may be useful when troubleshooting the following software-related issues:

• Acquisition software does not launch. 
• Acquisition software loses communication with instruments.
• Acquisition software displays unknown errors when starting, tuning the MS or acquiring data files.
• Unknown errors with data analysis software, etc.

Steps to Follow

1. Put the mass spectrometer into standby mode.
   

   Caution: Do not skip steps 2 and 3 and go straight to step 4. Clicking Remove MassHunter Processes alone might cause corruption of tune files and/or methods.

2. Close Data Acquisition software. 
3. From the windows taskbar, right click the System Engine icon , then click Shutdown Engines (Figure 1). Wait until the icon turns red.
   The System Engines icon is located in the System Tray at the lower right corner of the Windows taskbar. It may be necessary to expand the System Tray with the small triangle to see this icon.
   

   
   
   Figure 1: The tool bar displaying System Engine menu, Shutdown Engines is the second option down
   
   

4. After exiting the Engine launcher, run the Remove MassHunter Processes found in the Agilent MassHunter Workstation > Acq Tools folder (Figure 2).

   
   
   Figure 2: Run Remove MassHunter Processes
   1. Agilent MassHunter Workstation folder, 2. Acq Tools folder, 3. MassHunter Processes

5. Remove the existing instruments by:
   1. Clicking the red X icon,, in MassHunter Acq B.09 and 10.00 or above (Figure 3).
      

      
      
      Figure 3: Instrument Configuration in version B.09.00 and 10.0 or above. Red x icons are highlighted with red box.
      

   2. Unchecking the boxes of Mass Spectrometer or Agilent LC in MassHunter Acq B.08.02 or below (Figure 4). 
      

      
      
      Figure 4: Instrument Configuration in version B.08.02 or below
      
      

6. Under the Select Module/ Module Package drop-down menu, select the appropriate HPLC instrument. In this example with MassHunter Acq 10.1, Agilent 1100/1200/1260/1290 LC is selected. Click Add to configure the HPLC. The IP address is automatically filled under the Connection Info column (Figure 5).
7. (Optional) Click Device Config to configure the HPLC modules. Go over the desired module and change the setting if needed (Figure 5).
8. Click Ok to close the Device Configuration UI (Figure 5).
   

   
   
   Figure 5: HPLC Configuration
   
   

9. Under the Select Module/ Module Package drop-down menu, select 6400 Series triple quadrupole. Click Add to configure the triple quadrupole. The IP address is automatically filled under the Connection Info column (Figure 6).
10. Click Ok to complete the configuration. Users will then see a pop-up window with message Instrument configured successfully. Click Ok to close the Instrument Configuration (Figure 6).
    

    
    
    Figure 6: Triple Quadrupole Configuration
    
    

11. Double click to launch the Data Acquisition (Figure 7).
    

    
    
    Figure 7: Data Acquisition Launch
    
    

Learn how to effectively operate your Agilent 6400 Series triple quadrupole LC/MS system:  Agilent 6400 Series Triple Quadrupole LC/MS with MassHunter Workstation e-learning path available from Agilent education