Thank you to everyone that responded to this problem.

As Gerry points out below, the latest patch has a problem with the
acquisition.isl file. Replacing it with the old one eliminated the problem
of the software crashing. I shudder to think of how long it would have
taken me to figure that out on my own....

It didn't allow the PAL to function normally though, but Gerry provided me
with a hint for that: I didn't have a "start autosampler" column in the
method. The problem was that I was continuing to use the "A200S" object in
the configuration, as instructed by the manual. I did consider that it
might be the wrong one, but instead had been trying the "PAL" object (which
apparently is there for no reason?). Instead, I needed to be using the
"conflo liquid" object as mentioned by Gilles in his post. This restored
the "start autosampler" column in the method, and full PAL operation.

Paul

At 05:27 PM 11/24/2004, you wrote:

>HI Paul--
>
>The PAL working with the TC/EA (confloII device) fails in the latest
>patch 2.34 for Isodat 2.0 because it looks like they were trying to do
>something with excaliber devices in the acquisition sequence...
>
>To get it working in the new patch, go to you're favorite method and
>under the first tab change "acquisition.isl" to "acquistion-old.isl".
>Those files are found in
>c:\finnigan\isodat\global\user\confloII\ISL...(may not be exact, but you
>get the idea...alternatively, copy acquistion-old.isl over
>acquisition.isl).  If you're like me, you'll notice that it doesn't
>crash, but the autosampler still won't start while you try to figure out
>why there's a "start sampler" column in the time event list.  The GCC
>and gasbench routines start the sampler for you at the beginning, the
>conflo will now start it for you when you tell it to start. (I could
>have sworn that feature wasn't there the last time I did this).
>
>good luck
>
>take care
>
>gerry
>
>Paul Eby wrote:
>
>>Gerry,
>>
>>Thanks for the input. I'm extremely interested to hear that Isodat
>>crashed
>>for you as well. Can others add their experiences? Does anyone have
>>the PAL
>>working on TC/EA with the latest patch?
>>
>>Out of frustration, I completely removed Isodat, reinstalled from disk,
>>then applied the latest patch (thinking that my system may have become
>>corrupted after multiple patches). It still crashed, so I'm going to
>>try an
>>older patch or no patch.
>>
>>As for syringe types, I have the correct syringe installed. I wish it
>>were
>>that easy....
>>
>>Paul
>>
>>
>>At 01:20 PM 11/24/2004, you wrote:
>>
>>>HI Paul--
>>>
>>>Might be as simple as wrong syringe in CombiPal.  If your PAL method
>>>uses a 2uL syringe and the one loaded is 10uL, autosampler won't do a
>>>thing.  If the autodetection for the syringe is off, do a change syringe
>>>and set it to the correct syringe definition--that is the one used by
>>>your PAL method.  If you're using autodetection, then switch holders to
>>>the proper one. (this usually drives me nuts)
>>>
>>>take care
>>>gerry
>>>
>>>p.s.  Just tested it out after seeing your problems...I have the same
>>>problem with new software crashing when using PAL with TC/EA.  PAL ok
>>>with GCC and GasBench.
>>>
>>>Paul Eby wrote:
>>>
>>>>Mark,
>>>>
>>>>A reasonable suggestion, but I don't think it's that. I've used the
>>>>loader
>>>>to restore a copy of the firmware from back when the system was
>>>>working,
>>>>which should have overridden any changes to the Pal set up. Not sure
>>>>where
>>>>to find a "wait for GC ready" value though.
>>>>
>>>>Paul
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>At 09:28 AM 11/24/2004, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Paul
>>>>>
>>>>>We had issues with the PAL injecting samples into a GC.  The issue
>>>>>appeared
>>>>>to be that the PAL was waiting for a ready signal from the GC.
>>>>>Although
>>>>>your PAL is not connected to a GC or waiting for a signal it may be
>>>>>that
>>>>>the relay is set for a "ready to inject" signal.  Although I don't
>>>>>have
>>>>>access to the PAL at the moment, we resolved the problem by
>>>>>changing the
>>>>>default values for the ready to inject signal within the global
>>>>>methods of
>>>>>the PAL, such that it did not need a ready signal.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Mark
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> >Content-Type: text/plain; x-avg-checked=avg-ok-5A2721;
>>>>>charset=us-ascii;
>>>>> >format=flowed
>>>>> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>>>>> >
>>>>> >Listmembers,
>>>>> >
>>>>> >I'm having trouble with my CombiPal, which in the past has worked
>>>>>just fine
>>>>> >on my TC/EA (coupled to a Delta Plus XL). Isodat seems to be
>>>>>unable to
>>>>> >trigger an injection from a sequence run.
>>>>> >
>>>>> >- The Pal seems fine, I can manually trigger an injection (using
>>>>>method1).
>>>>> >- The Loader software is able to communicate with the Pal, on Com1.
>>>>> >- Isodat is also configured for the Pal on Com1.
>>>>> >- The A200S method builder within Isodat is successfully able to
>>>>>send a new
>>>>> >method to the Pal.
>>>>> >- Within the sequence, I'm selecting "internal method 1" and a valid
>>>>>sample
>>>>> >number.
>>>>> >
>>>>> >Does anyone have a thought as to why the software isn't triggering
>>>>>the
>>>>> >autosampler?
>>>>> >
>>>>> >(I don't have the very latest Isodat patch: when I tried installing
>>>>>that,
>>>>> >Isodat crashed every time I tried to start an autosampler run)
>>>>> >
>>>>> >Paul Eby
>>>>> >University of Victoria
>>>>
>