A pulsed 14 GHz ECR4 source, adapted to operate in the afterglow mode, was delivered by GANIL to CERN in the framework of the Heavy Ion Facility Project. After four months of operation to commission the facility, it completed its first operational run of nine weeks at the end of 1994, providing lead ions to nuclear physics and ion cooling experiments. A very stable beam, with a useful length of over 1 ms, of 80e&mgr;A of Pb27+was provided by the source over this period. The operational problems experienced during the commissioning and operation, and the investigations to improve performance for the next experimental physics run are presented. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.