After a bunch of back and forth with tech support, and arriving at the point where they recommended a service call (read: $$$$) I decided to give the instrument one more round of diagnostics. I fiddled with a bunch of settings that should have no effect (and didn’t, which I suppose is reassuring). I was about resigned to make that service call when I noticed some lights that I expected to be illuminated but were not. Even though the instrument is designed to remain powered on at all times – and even though it had recently lost power (on the evening of 3/14 when the tornado struck) – I cycled the power…and lo and behold, now the instrument is working as expected.
Now, before you figure that flipping the power switch is the solution to the world’s ills, please note that users should not be cycling the power on the FTIR without prior authorization. If you run into problems, please let me know – I need to keep track of them and be able to run diagnostics when problems arise.
For now, IR spectroscopy is back on the menu. Enjoy!