Qtegra for ICP-MS and ICP-OES Software Issues

Contents
Reinitialize the Configuration ................................................................................................................. 2
Restarting the Qtegra Services .............................................................................................................. 3
User Configuration Files ........................................................................................................................ 4
Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSMQ) ........................................................................................... 5
Appendix A: Creating an Empty Configuration ....................................................................................... 6

Page 1 of 6

For technical support in the U.S. and Canada, call 1-800-532-4752, option 2, or email
us.techsupport.analyze@thermofisher.com . Outside the U.S. and Canada, call the nearest Thermo Fisher
Scientific office. Please provide your instrument serial number when contacting technical support.
There have been reported instances in which Qtegra or Instrument Control (if controlling an iCap
Q/RQ/TQ) will crash, lock up, exhibit a response in which all control parameters are grayed out, will not
Open, etc.

The following steps can be undertaken to try to remedy these issues:

Reinitialize the Configuration

Switch to an “Empty” configuration (one which does not contain any instrument or accessories plugins)

Note: If there is no such configuration present, please follow Appendix A at the end of this technical
note to create one.

a) Open the Select Configuration popup window. This can be access by going to the
Dashboard in Qtegra and then clicking on either Dashboard – [Configuration name]:

Or by clicking on the picture of the instrument:

b) Once in the Select Configuration popup window, select the Empty configuration. This will be
evident by a green puzzle piece icon next to the name of the configuration

c) Once the Empty configuration has been loaded, power cycle the instrument by turning it off
for 1 minute and then back on again.

d) Once the instrument has been powered up, click on and then select
the configuration you were previously using.

Page 2 of 6

For technical support in the U.S. and Canada, call 1-800-532-4752, option 2, or email
us.techsupport.analyze@thermofisher.com . Outside the U.S. and Canada, call the nearest Thermo Fisher
Scientific office. Please provide your instrument serial number when contacting technical support.
Note: When specifically facing a communication issue, i.e. instrument controls are grayed out, it is
helpful to rule out an autosampler issue by selecting a configuration that only contains the instrument. If
communication is restored upon going to the configuration with only the instrument, then more than
likely there is an issue with the autosampler that needs to be investigated.

Restarting the Qtegra Services

If re-initializing the configuratoin fails to establish communication with the instrument, try restarting the
Qtegra Services

a) Click on the button and then on

b) If your Control Panel view is arranged by Category, click on followed

by and finally double-click on

If your Control Panel view is arranged by Icon, click on and then

double-click on

c) Click on to sort the Services by Description

d) Scroll down to the list Qtegra services

e) Right-click on the Logging Service and select Stop

f) A Stop Other Services popup window will appear. Click Yes to stop the other Qtegra
Services.

Page 3 of 6

For technical support in the U.S. and Canada, call 1-800-532-4752, option 2, or email
us.techsupport.analyze@thermofisher.com . Outside the U.S. and Canada, call the nearest Thermo Fisher
Scientific office. Please provide your instrument serial number when contacting technical support.
 g) Right-click on Acquisition Service and select Start

h) The Post Process Service was added to later versions of Qtegra. If this service is present
in the list of Qtegra services, right-click on Post Process Service and select Start

i) Once all of the Qtegra services have been restarted, Running should be displayed in the
Status column for all of the Qtegra services.

User Configuration Files

If the issue still persists, it is possible that the user configuration files have become corrupted and need
to be regenerated. This can performed by doing the following:

Page 4 of 6

For technical support in the U.S. and Canada, call 1-800-532-4752, option 2, or email
us.techsupport.analyze@thermofisher.com . Outside the U.S. and Canada, call the nearest Thermo Fisher
Scientific office. Please provide your instrument serial number when contacting technical support.
 a) Close out of any open Qtegra applications: Qtegra, Instrument Control, Configurator, etc.

b) Rename the Thermo_Fisher_Scientific folder located by navigating to following two file

paths.
i. C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local
ii. C:\Users\Your User Name (Windows user account you are logged on as) \AppData\Local\

Note: You can change its name to “Thermo_Fisher_Scientific_original” OR put a date

stamp at the end

c) Reboot the PC

d) Restart Qtegra

Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSMQ)

The communication between the Qtegra Services and Applications are done via the Windows Message
Queues so it’s important that all of the MSMQ features are enabled. This can be verified by doing the
following:

a) Open the Control Panel

b) Click on the Programs and Features.

c) Select Turn Windows feature on or off

d) Windows features dialog box will pop-up.

e) Locate Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) Server from the list

Verify that there is a checkmark in the checkbox next to to each feature like in the snippet to
follow. If there is instead a black square populated in the checkbox this means that MSMQ
has only been partially implemented. Expand the MSMQ menu out and check to ensure that
all of the checkboxes for the sub-items are ticked.

Page 5 of 6

For technical support in the U.S. and Canada, call 1-800-532-4752, option 2, or email
us.techsupport.analyze@thermofisher.com . Outside the U.S. and Canada, call the nearest Thermo Fisher
Scientific office. Please provide your instrument serial number when contacting technical support.
Appendix A: Creating an Empty Configuration

1) Open Configurator

2) Click on the Experiment Configurator applet

3) Click

4) Name the Configuration something like “Empty”

5) Click to save the changes

An Empty configuration will now be completed and available to switch to in Qtegra

Page 6 of 6

For technical support in the U.S. and Canada, call 1-800-532-4752, option 2, or email
us.techsupport.analyze@thermofisher.com . Outside the U.S. and Canada, call the nearest Thermo Fisher
Scientific office. Please provide your instrument serial number when contacting technical support.