I'm in a situation where I get Arniel the Warped Soul Gem from Enthir, but he doesn't give me the next part of the quest to help with the convection. I tried waiting for a few days and coming back to him, but there are no additional dialogue options to continue helping with his research. The only dialogue option is to ask him what he thinks about Ancano. Has anyone else had this happen and then found a way around it? I have saves before starting the quest if necessary. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The other stages may have level requirements.

I'm level 65...

what does the quest log say?
and what platform are you on?


edit - here's the known bugs of that quest, per wiki:

In some cases the Warped Soul Gem will get duplicated after heating it. This prevents further dialog with Arniel, thus making it impossible to complete the quest.

An easy fix to this bug is by leaving one of the duplicates of the gem in the dwarven convector. This should allow you to be able to finish the dialouge with Arniel.
Assuming this does not occur on the 4th and final convector heating, the warped soul gem duplication bug can be fixed by putting both soul gems in the next convector box and then heat it with the spell, this will result in one of the soul gems dissapear thus leaving only one to collect and allowing the completion dialogue with Arniel

Another minor bug can occur at the end of the quest. After returning the gem the quest will be completed but if you look at it under completed quests the bullet marker for the last stage is hollow (as if the stage was not completed). This does not seem to affect game play.

The quest may fail to update when heating a convector with the flawed soul gem in it. This may be related to having both Augumented Flames perks. Workaround: place the warped soul gem into a convector, type setstage MGRArniel03 20 in the console, then heat the convector and the quest updates.

Try waiting outside of winterhold.

I don't even get to the convection part of the quest. My quest concludes after part 2 of Arniel's Endeavor. Well, it also concluded after part 1 but I was able to inquire about further assistance which re-opened the quest. There are no further quest objectives after part 2 concludes. Step by step: I talked to Arniel & gave him the Dwemer Cogs, which completes the first stage of the quest. I talk to him again, he then requests that I get him an item from Enthir. Enthir asks that I fetch a staff for him. After fetching the staff Enthir gives me the item which turns out to be the Warped Soul Gem. After handing the Warped Soul Gem to Arniel is when my quest completes. When trying to inquire further about Arniel's research no dialogue options are available, my only dialogue option is to ask him his opinion on Ancano. I have no active quest pertaining to Arniel at this point. I tried waiting for a few days to see if he needed time to continue his research and then need my help with it afterward, but the only available dialogue remains about his opinion on Ancano. Also, I am playing on Ps3.

hmmm....try reloading an earlier save and going through it again. or, try leaving the area completely. fast travel to whiterun or something and go back. sometimes leaving the game cell can kick things free.

Worth a shot. I deleted my save where I did all those steps to try it all over again. I'll try re-doing it and leaving Winterhold this time, I just slept in my bed at the Hall of Attainment last time. I already have the Cogs at my house in Markarth and getting the staff wasn't much of a challenge so it's not as though it's extremely out of the way or anything. Thanks for offering the suggestion.