I am preparing to run a lot of samples on a 384 well plate and I wanted to test if any well in my PCR machine is dead so as not to lose any data. I would really appreciate help with how I can do that. Thank you.
Is this a new machine (as in, you just bought it)? If yes, it should have an extensive user manual. And you get in-person training/tech support from the company.
The quick & cheap way to see if all wells can collect data is to create one big batch of "positive control" and distribute it to the entire plate.