Recommendations for the installation of Waters instrument drivers and driver packs - WKB106931

ENVIRONMENT

• Empower
• MassLynx
• Waters Instrument Drivers
• Waters Driver Packs

ANSWER

• MUST install Oldest drivers first, then the newest. 
• Verify that all existing drivers are compatible if installing new drivers.
• Run the Driver Pack installation last so the companion can run to check and rectify common errors.
• Always perform a Typical installation of drivers, which installs all the drivers in the Driver Pack.
• Waters recommends dedicating workstations and LAC/Es when using third-party instrument drivers.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

See - Driver Pack & Instrument Control Software (ICOPs)

NOTE: Waters driver pack is always tested with the latest Empower version and full compatibility with Empower base to current version is verified.

Firmware Considerations, Waters recommendations:

• Waters’ latest/new firmware is designed to be 100% backward compatible with earlier versions of that modules ICS.
• Bringing the FW up to the latest version/one that matches the driver pack will not cause any conflicts.
• The firmware ideally should match the DP; this is how Waters tests the DP releases.
• In many cases, when there is less than a 24-month gap, the “older” firmware should be supportable with newer ICSs. Old firmware will not be able to support new ICS functions.*
• In cases when there is less than a 24-month gap, installing later firmware is supported with older DP. For example, installing DP2019R2 firmware while the LAC/E box is still using DP2018 R1 is not expected to raise issues.
• The same modules on the same LAC/E should have the same firmware.**
• In some cases customers may receive modules with newer firmware than the version supplied with the driver pack they have installed. Refer to later driver pack release notes for details of the newer firmware checksum values.

*This case always has exceptions. For example, the new PDA chip and its supporting board are new and cannot work with firmware versions earlier than 1.69.

**This complements the rules above. Again, sometimes a firmware compatibility issue can be hard to diagnose if the modules have different firmware.