Top Board - is physically mounted to the top stainless steel manifold plate and is primarily responsible for the RF power generation and peak control, peak width and peak location.  The  Top Board seems to be the most fragile board of the hp 5971 msd and hp 5972 msd.  Non-existing or inconsistent peaks are the main clues to a bad top board.  While RF power generation and control is a complicated engineering application, it is a board that can be relatively easy to repair.  Send it to us and we'll troubleshoot it and repiar (or replace) it for you.

I/O board - is otherwise commonly known as the "SmartCard".   The smartcard is the rectangular board to the left of and plugged into the Main board.   There are several versions of Smartcards and (for the hp 5971 and hp 5972) after the Smartcard I are all backwards compatible. The  Smartcard I can be identified by "Discrete" memory chips soldered directly to the board.  All Smartcards NEWER than the Version I, have memory in the form of RAM Sims, much like the RAM memory SIMS found in your desktop personal computer.  Go to our page:  http://cssco.com/smartcard-id  for easy id.  The Smartcard is the "Brain" of the mass spectrometer and is in fact a mini computer.  It has several micro processors and lots of memory.  It is responsible for the HPIB communication, control of the mass spectrometer scanning, data acquisition, data buffering and data manipulating.  Troubleshooting of this board is limited to "Initializing" (testing HPIB communication ... SCINIT at the comman line). hard reset - for newer boards,  and "Profiling" in manual tune.  Profiling with a bad Smartcard (in manual tune) can identify a memory SIM error.

There are only 5 boards (assemblies) in the HP 5971 and HP 5972 MSD.  Over the next few blog entries we will assist you in troubleshooting each of these modules.

O-Rings for the HP/Agilent can be purcased directly from Agilent  but they can be rather expensive.  Now that the HP 5972 and HP 5971 is so old, finding the right o-rings can be problematic.

Most HP/Agilent mass spectrometers have power outlets on the back of the mass spec in order for you to plug your rough pump(s) into.  In this case, the software can accommodate automatic  "Pump Down" and "Vent" procedures.  This is a great idea for a new mass spec, or a new mass spec owner/operator.

Mass Spectrometry is a analytical technique that makes and sorts molecules based on mass.  In order to make and move ions, a sufficient vacuum is required.  In order to make a good vacuum, GCMS Mass Spectrometers need o-rings.

Most o-rings, once put in place are never disturbed and are good for years but eventually they need to be attended to.  Most are easy to get to and are inexpensive and can just be replaced.  Such as for the rough pump, diff pump, ion gauge, calibration valve, etc...