7890A/5975C/7697A Headspace-GC-MS slow loading of software

Another performance improvement would be to optimize your PC for performance rather than appearance. The instructions below apply to Windows 7 and will essentially remove some unnecessary cosmetic features in the operating system.

1. In Windows, click Start and type “adjust appearance” and the following instant search results will appear; choose the one called “Adjust the appearance and Performance of Windows”:

Choose Adjust for best performance, then click Apply but not OK yet:

2. Click on the Advanced tab in the same window, then choose Change… under the Virtual memory section.

2. 1. Uncheck the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives,” highlight your primary drive (likely C:\) and choose a custom size. I recommend the initial size about half your current installed RAM and the maximum size about 2-3 times your installed RAM (so, for example, since you have 16GB, 8000 for initial and 32000 for maximum). You can choose other numbers, but the purpose of virtual memory is to supplement the physical RAM installed.
      
   2. Click Set, then OK. Reboot the PC.

Another performance improvement would be to optimize your PC for performance rather than appearance. The instructions below apply to Windows 7 and will essentially remove some unnecessary cosmetic features in the operating system.

1. In Windows, click Start and type “adjust appearance” and the following instant search results will appear; choose the one called “Adjust the appearance and Performance of Windows”:

Choose Adjust for best performance, then click Apply but not OK yet:

2. Click on the Advanced tab in the same window, then choose Change… under the Virtual memory section.

2. 1. Uncheck the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives,” highlight your primary drive (likely C:\) and choose a custom size. I recommend the initial size about half your current installed RAM and the maximum size about 2-3 times your installed RAM (so, for example, since you have 16GB, 8000 for initial and 32000 for maximum). You can choose other numbers, but the purpose of virtual memory is to supplement the physical RAM installed.
      
   2. Click Set, then OK. Reboot the PC.

Thanks for the suggestions - still no improvement.

With regard to the default gateway should that be blank on the host computer and also on the GC, HS and MS

I tried having all of them set to 10.1.1.100 (the IP address of the host computer) but haven't tried them all blank yet (0.0.0.0 - I presume). Would that help

Thanks

Kevin

Hi Kevin, I'm sorry you haven't seen improvement yet.

The default gateway is typically used in a more complex networking setup than what you should be using for a workstation environment. It would only be applicable if you had a forwarding host or router that would put your instrument network on a larger wide-area network. Since from your previous replies it does sound like you do have the gateway entered on the PC, GC, HS and MS in order to match your corporate network settings, this might be the root of these problems. Ideally, with a simple ChemStation workstation you would use an isolated LAN. So, the reason I recommended a blank gateway is because there really shouldn't be one. Your computer wouldn't serve as that gateway, so it wouldn't be appropriate to use its IP address as such.

If you've already done the following, you don't have to try it again, of course, but I think it's worth exploring if not. As a test, disconnect your corporate network connection from this setup. Set up the IP addresses manually, use 255.255.255.0 as the subnet mask, and leave the gateway blank. Make sure all 3 instruments reply to a PING test (in the command prompt, type ping 10.1.1.101 to test the GC connection, ping 10.1.1.102 to test the MSD, etc). Then, try to perform your regular runs and see if the performance improves. I really do think it's worth a shot. If you get stuck, let us know.

For more information on the proper network setup, check out this document: https://www.agilent.com/cs/library/quickreference/Public/Setting%20up%20the%20LAN%20Instrument%20Network.pdf

Hi all

I have tried setting a blank gateway and no improvement.

One thing I would like to add is when in the past I reinstalled the software either on a new pc or the existing one when troubleshooting the problem I didn't notice the lags when I had just the GC and MS configured - It was only when I added the headspace control software that this problem became readily apparent.

I think that unless someone has any more ideas for me to try we shall have to leave this as unresolved.

I may have to update the computer to Windows 10 this Summer and I have been told that new headspace and GC MassHunter software is required. If I am able to go down that path (money being the issue of course) then maybe that will solve the issue

Thanks for all the help

Kevin