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Derek Davies suggests:
Hi Michelle,
This connectivity problem seems to be common, although I for one have yet
to see a definitive explanation or universal workround.
I have been told that the problem stems from the architecture of one of
the bus boards - unfortunately as I don't speak fluent jargon, this means
little. Apparently BD and Apple are working on something that will cure it
but that may be some way down the line (This is UK info, perhaps the US
end know more?)
>From a practical day to day point of view, I always make sure that the
FACS is switched on first and left for at least 5 minutes before the
computer is switched on (an arbitrary time determined by the time taken
to get a coffee). We have a FACSCalibur connected to a 7600. If for any
reason this fails, I always switch both off and wait a minute or two
before trying again.
At 01:47 PM 2/13/97 +-1100, Peter Chapple wrote:
>
>Michelle,
>
>We also have communications problems between the PowerMAC and cytometer -
in our case the cytometer is a FACSCalibur, but I suspect a similar/same
mechanism may be involved.
>
>At the outset I must say that I have no proof of what I'm about to say ...
only an observation I have made over many months.
>
>It seems to me that the timing of when cytometer and computer are
switched-on is very important in establishing the dialogue between the two.
Obviously you power-up the cytometer first, but then the computer must
follow within the next 1-4minutes (approx). If you do this then there is
rarely a problem - if the cytometer has been powered-up for longer than
4ish minutes before the computer communications are unlikely to work!.
>
> It follows from this that if you are operating the instrument and the
computers has one of those dreaded *error type 11* situations which obliges
you to do a re-start on the computer - then it's necessary to power-down
the cytometer as well and start from scratch :-(
>
>These observations are true for the FACSCalibur - I'm presuming the same
interface board resides in your FACSort
>
>Hope this is useful
>
>Peter Chapple
>Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute
>Melbourne AUSTRALIA
>
>>We recently upgraded our FACSort computer from an HP system to a PowerMac
7600.
>>In general we have been happy with this, although CellQuest could still has
>>some way to go to take advantage of all Macs have to offer (but is better
than
>>Lysis II in most ways). However, we are having a sporadic, but
persistent and
>>annoying problem - when attempting to connect to the cytometer from
Writing the
>>program we often get a message saying that the cytometer cannot be found.
>>This is despite turning the FACS on before the computer, etc. This can
go on
>>for hours before it decides that the FACS really is there and lets us
access it
>>for acquisition. BD suggested reloading the software, which had no
effect, nor
>>did rebuilding the desktop. Our computer consultant has suggested that
>>fragmentation of the hard disk is to blame, and that the recent high
humidity
>>in Sydney may also be implicated.
>
>>Has anyone else had this problem with their Mac/FACS interface? We use Macs
>>exclusively in our institute (with the exception of the old HP) and the
7600 is
>>networked but the harddisk cannot be accessed by other computers without
first
>>checking that the FACSort is not in use. Any suggestions would be very
>>welcome.
>
>>Thanks in advance,
>
>>Michelle Miller
>>Johnson and Johnson Research Labs
>>Sydney, Australia
>>email: jjphar13@angis.su.oz.au
>
>
>
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CD-ROM Vol 3 was produced by Monica M. Shively and other staff at the
Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories and distributed free of charge
as an educational service to the cytometry community.
If you have any comments please direct them to
Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director,
PUCL, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.
Phone: (765)-494-0757;
FAX(765) 494-0517;
Web