Notice on Connectivity Issues with Trilogy Instruments
Should your Trilogy instruments experience connectivity issues with external devices over time, feel free to run through our diagnostics. To assist in diagnosing the root cause of these issues—whether it stems from the cable, the computer, or the instrument itself—we have developed a series of troubleshooting steps. These steps will help you pinpoint the specific area responsible for the connection problem.
Information comes from Trilogy User Manual: Trilogy User Manual
Note: It's crucial to follow the steps in the specified order. Deviating from this procedure may prevent the connection from being established successfully.
Model 7200-000 with S/N 720XXXXXX - uses Serial Port
Model 7200-002 with S/N 721XXXXXX - adds USB interface
Areas to confirm before troubleshooting
Text version of Main Trilogy troubleshooting pathway:
Please follow these troubleshooting steps to see if they resolve the issue.
Ensure everything is unplugged.
Connect the USB cable to your Trilogy.
Note: For users with Model 7200-000, USB Data Cable P/N 021-7202 will not work. You must use RS-232 Cable P/N 021-0700.
Plug the USB Data Cable (PN 021-7202) to an available USB port on the computer.
Plug power supply to the Trilogy. Power port is on the Trilogy's back panel.
Plug power supply into an AC power source.
Use the ON/OFF Switch to power up the Trilogy
Note: The lower right-hand corner of the PC’s display may indicate a new hardware device (Trilogy) was detected and drivers are being located; this may take several minutesOpen up device manager to see if computer can recognize the cable.
Locate the Trilogy Software icon on your desktop and double-click it to open the
software.
In the top right-hand corner of the window, click the select COM port button and
set the COM port to the COM port assigned for your USB connection.
Click ‘OK’, then click ‘Start’.
Both ‘MS EXCEL’ and ‘COM’ should show green indicator lights and an Excel spreadsheet should automatically open. a. If you don’t get green indicator lights for either ‘MS EXCEL’ or ‘COM’, you must restart your PC and repeat steps 8 – 11 of this procedure.
Now all your measurements will be streamed and dumped into the Excel spreadsheet as samples are being read on the Trilogy.
Note: make sure to continually save the spreadsheet as there is no backup if data are deleted.
After following our workflow map, here is the directory below for expanded instructions from where you need help the most on the
Spreadsheet Interface Software Setup
Follow these simple instructions to install the USB driver for connecting the Trilogy to your PC:
Download the necessary driver folder from the flash-drive or from the website: Software | Trilogy Laboratory Fluorometer | Turner Designs
The downloaded folder will be titled ‘Trilogy USB Driver’ and may be a *.zip folder Note: For *.zip folders, right-click on the folder and select extract to extract the contents.
The folder will contain a file titled ‘runme’
Double-click on ‘runme’ to start driver installation on the PC
Click ‘Yes’ to allow the installer to continue
Click ‘Next’ on the installation wizard’s window
Click ‘Install’ to trust the source of the installation
Wait while the drivers are installed - this may take several minutes.
Once the drivers are installed, click ‘Finish’
Trilogy Software Installation
Download the necessary driver folder from the flash-drive or from the website: Software | Trilogy Laboratory Fluorometer | Turner Designs
Click the ‘setup.exe file’ link.
Open the downloaded folder and double-click the ‘setup’ file.
Click ‘Yes’ to allow the installation to continue.
Click ‘Next’ on the installation wizard’s window, then click ‘Next’. a. Optional: Set a user name and organization and select who to install the application for.
If you want to skip step 5a, click ‘Next’ to change the destination folder indicating where the software will be installed.
Click ‘Next’, then ‘Install’ to install Trilogy Software.
Click ‘Finish’ when install has completed.
A Trilogy Software icon will be added to your desktop
Note: If opening the zip file and contents extracted are now missing, contact your system administrator or analyze if an anti-virus software is erroneously deleting this file. If this same error occurs after installation and the file is not able to be opened, contact your system administrator for installation permissions.
Device Manager Setup
Connection Requirements
You need to have a Trilogy communication cable or interface cable to plug into the computer
Computer user has administrative privileges enabled
Device Manager is enabled
Ports Settings are showing on the Device Manager
The COM port setting can be viewed in the computer’s Device Manager window.
Open up device manager and view ports
Plug in the Trilogy communication cable and watch to see if the Device Manager window updates
A USB serial port should now be visible in the space where it was previously not there. In image example above, it is on COM 3
If the USB shows a value other than a number 1-8. Right click the USB serial port and select Properties.
Select the tab Port Settings then click advanced.
Click the drop-down menu for COM Port Number to change the number to between 1-16 and then press ok. Trilogy can only connect to Trilogy Spreadsheet Software and computer on COM Ports between 1 and 16.
If any steps are blocked for troubleshooting your Device Manager, you will need to have administrative privileges to enable this. Additionally, if you are unable to find the port settings on the Device Manager, you may need to download legacy software on your Device Manager. We recommend taking a look at this Microsoft forums: Ports and com not showing up in Device manager even after view show - Microsoft Community