Corruption of files contained in the Mass Spec folder causes problems with MS data acquisition in Empower 3 - WKB44886

SYMPTOMS

• Data is not collected as expected during acquisitions.
• This could manifest as data dropout or data for some channels not collected.
• Control of the tune page is not stable.

ENVIRONMENT

• Empower 3
• Mass spectrometer driver/ICS software

CAUSE

File corruption in the Mass Spec folder. This folder contains the instrument "project" folder, for example, for the ACQUITY QDa ,this is the Kestrel folder, and for ACQUITY TQ, this is the Trinity folder. These folders contain user interface programs needed to control the MS. The Mass Spec folder is installed when the MS drivers are installed.

FIX or WORKAROUND

1. Navigate to C:\Empower\Instruments.
2. Confirm that there is only one copy of the Mass Spec folder present. Sometimes it is possible to have more than one copy if drivers were repeatedly uninstalled and installed.
3. Rename the Mass Spec folder as Mass spec_OLD so Empower will ignore it.
4. Uninstall the ICS drivers, including the mass spec driver.
5. Reinstall drivers. Then, a new copy of the Mass Spec is created.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION