Dear confocal users, The argon laser of Zeiss 710 has problems to switch on. As the laser has almost 7000 working hours, I think this is the beginning of the end for this laser. Monday there was a similar problem, but on Tuesday, when the technician of Zeiss was here, the switching on was fine. Today again there was a problem with switching on. The first sign of degradation is often problem with switching on. I can only advice to try several times to get it on, either by restarting up completely. Or, and I think this could be more more helpfull, by switching the system on, leave it on and hoping that the laser will go on after a while. If someone succeeds in getting the laser on, please DO NOT SWITCH OFF!!! (even for the weekend!) It can be left on till replacement will be done. The company will be contacted for the installation of a new laser. Greetings, Evelien Evelien Mylle - Lab Manager / Technician Advanced Live Cell Imaging VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology Ghent University Technologiepark 927 - 9052 Ghent - Belgium Tel. +32(0)9 331 39 34 [ http://www.psb.ugent.be/ | www.psb.ugent.be ]