Issues with 5977B after venting

How long did you wait after pumpdown before trying the air/water check?  It should be at least one hour or longer for decent vacuum and thermal stability.

How far is the column sticking out of the ceramic transferline tipseal?  With the HES, the end should be flush with the ceramic or maybe sticking out up to 2mm but not further. If the column moved that could cause this.

Try loading the default tune file, or one from before this happened, and starting from there.  The tune file might be corrupt.

and let us know.

Hi, and thanks for the fast reply. Sorry for the delay in answering, I've been away from the lab.

We re-installed the column, making sure that it did not extend beyond 1-2 mm outside of the ceramic. Unfortunately did this not help. Neither did a new tune file. We've also added a completely new instrument configuration, but this also shows the same problem.

While trying different options in the tune window, we've got an array of error messages:

'Warning: MS driver may not have started up correctly. Verify that the correct type of MSD is configured that it has the correct revision of firmware"

"No HES electronics detected. No source configuration is possible"

We tried to execute a manual tune, and got highly distorted peak shapes. When executing an automated tune, it looked "more normal", but after a while it stops with with the error "Tune action stopped: Undefined symbol: peakmax1".

Has the instrument controller computer had updates done? IT department rules assigned? Is it on a network? Is there any chance that MassHunter Acquisition has been touched/corrupted/changed?  

The version of MassHunter loaded requires a specific version, or higher, of the firmware to be uploaded to the SmartCard in the 5977.

Close MassHunter Acquisition. Open Agilent GCMS Configuration. Highlight the instrument, then Help, About. What version of MassHunter Acquisition is loaded?

Close that pop-up window and then choose Help, Check Networking and Update MS Firmware..

It will ping the MS and show the current version of the firmware.   Please take a screen capture and share it back here.  If the networking is fine, no errors, and the version needs to be updated, please follow the instructions and update the firmware.

You could also do a repair of MassHunter. Windows: Add or remove programs, find Agilent MassHunter GCMS Data Acquisition. Click on the three dots and select Modify. The install wizard will launch.

Select Next>

Select Repair, then Next>.... and follow the prompts. When it's done, reboot the PC.

Has the instrument controller computer had updates done? IT department rules assigned? Is it on a network? Is there any chance that MassHunter Acquisition has been touched/corrupted/changed?  

The version of MassHunter loaded requires a specific version, or higher, of the firmware to be uploaded to the SmartCard in the 5977.

Close MassHunter Acquisition. Open Agilent GCMS Configuration. Highlight the instrument, then Help, About. What version of MassHunter Acquisition is loaded?

Close that pop-up window and then choose Help, Check Networking and Update MS Firmware..

It will ping the MS and show the current version of the firmware.   Please take a screen capture and share it back here.  If the networking is fine, no errors, and the version needs to be updated, please follow the instructions and update the firmware.

You could also do a repair of MassHunter. Windows: Add or remove programs, find Agilent MassHunter GCMS Data Acquisition. Click on the three dots and select Modify. The install wizard will launch.

Select Next>

Select Repair, then Next>.... and follow the prompts. When it's done, reboot the PC.