When your sequencer just stops in the middle of a run it can be flat-out scary. Everything was going fine, and now it seems like someone just hit your machine with a bat. We know that you probably immediately start thinking of the parts that you’ll need to replace, as well as the lost revenue and time. Before you reach for the checkbook and a bottle of migraine pills, hold on just a second. Let’s back up a few steps and attempt to get to the root cause of the issue.

When your autosampler stops prior to the completion of a run, check the event log to see what is going on. There are many possibilities for autosampler failure, and depending upon when the failure occurs and what the actual error message is, you may be able to salvage your data.

SeqGen is dedicated to our customers and your machines. Your concerns become our concerns. We have been receiving many emails and phone calls from our customers asking if they have to upgrade their sequencing and fragment analysis software to work on the Windows 7 operating system. Like many major updates with these machines, this can run you a pretty penny, and you’ll want to make sure you actually need the update before you blow your budget.

You may have gotten a notice from your manufacturer saying that in order to have the best security and efficiency for your machines, your software should be replaced to run under Windows 7. It may not sound like much of a setback; that is until they mention the multi thousands of dollars that you will need to find within your budget to upgrade your data collection software! THAT is quite the setback.

If you’ve been following our blog, you know that regular maintenance is key to the health of your machines. We all know that our sequencers are made up of a bunch of smaller parts. We also know that eventually some of these parts wear out and it’s time to dig into the piggy bank to cover the new pieces if you do not enjoy Platinum coverage with SeqGen for your capillary electrophoresis machines.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found a way to beat Father Time when it comes to wear and tear on certain parts, but there are some things you can do to hold him off.

If your lab is like ours, you know that a week can come and go in the blink of an eye! You’re just minding your own business, running samples, and all of a sudden another week can be checked off the calendar. This isn’t a bad thing; you know the saying—time flies when you’re having fun! But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taking care of your equipment in the meantime.

At the start of every week, there are a few procedures to perform to make sure that your machine is running at peak performance. Before you dive headfirst into your samples, it’s best to make sure you are starting with a clean slate, otherwise your machine could end up looking like this.

We all know that our sequencers need constant maintenance and attention to stay at the top of their game, but keeping up with each and every tiny moving part on these machines can seem daunting.

One of the little parts on the ABI 3130/xl, 3730/xl, 3500/xl to stay on top of is the piston. If you neglect to take care of this piston, the polymer can back-flow into the pump motor, which can cause serious problems (and an expensive service visit) down the road. Flushing the water trap is the easiest way to care for it. So to make sure your traps and pistons are squeaky-clean, follow these six easy steps to flush the trap on your ABI sequencers.

There are few other things in this world more frustrating than getting the cold shoulder for a reason you can’t even guess. Is your sequencer’s data collection software giving you the cold shoulder? And by cold shoulder we’re actually referring to the yellow triangle status. 

This is a fairly common problem that can be explained by a multitude of causes, luckily we have a solution. Some of the most common times we see this is when the computer name has been changed or incorrectly changing the settings on the computer can lead to this mishap. In order to ensure that the computer name is set correctly, follow these four easy steps.

For every problem you may encounter with any of your machines, we are here to help you find the solution. If your 3130 or 3730 is giving  you an error which reads: “Electrical Discharge Error,” one of the possible causes could be an issue with your pump’s one-way check valve . The error may indicate that the valve is malfunctioning, resulting in the back-flow of liquid to the polymer bottle. This leads to incomplete filling of your array and causes the old polymer to remain in the capillary.  The end result is a bad spatial intensity, as well as an electrical discharge error.

What is going on in the cosmos? We seem to be receiving a lot of calls and emails regarding the ABI 3730 autosampler.  A very common error reported is: “Autosampler Detect a Non-assigned tray”.  

This can be an especially tricky issue to deal with since the autosampler relies on many moving parts. To walk you through this problem and get your machine back up and running, we’ve compiled a few tips we’ve learned from dealing with these machines in the field.

Dealing with sequencer problems is hard enough when your machine notifies you of what’s wrong. But working with a machine that won’t give you any information can make you want to crawl under a rock. 

A common service issue we see on 31xx and 3730 series machines is failure of the CCD camera. You may recognize this scenario: You arrive early Monday morning ready for a productive day of sequencing, load your plates, and then disaster strikes!  All that appears in the array viewer is a black screen. Panic mode sets in. After a deep calming breath, you email SeqGen the screen captures for our expert engineers to review and troubleshoot. Within 2 hours, SeqGen’s expert team responds by email and then by telephone:  “We are very sorry to report that your CCD camera has passed away.”  RIP, CCD Camera. You gave us some great years!

They say that it’s all about the little things in life that make a big difference. Although “they” were probably referring to things like compliments or ice cream cones. Instead, we’re referring to changing out the polymer for your 310, 3100, 3130 and 3730 machines. 

Changing out your polymer might not be glamorous, but it is an imperative part of making sure you’re gathering accurate data. If you’ve been wondering how often you should change out your polymer, don’t worry, we get that question a lot