http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?section=news&pagename=story&storyid=1150210209308>snipet...Andy Kyte at the Gartner Groupconsulting firm said there was evidence of a software foul-up affecting some multinational corporations whose computers are synchronized using time signals. It was "causing quite a bit of a headache," he said.

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), January 04, 2000

Answers

This article has one of the best summaries I've seen of glitches that have happened so far:

http://www.sunspot.net/cgi- bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?section=news&pagename=story&storyi d=1150210209308

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Y2K bug doesn't punch in at work

Office glitches kept to minimum; crisis centers end watch

By Frank D. Roylance

Sun Staff

Governments and businesses around the world began closing down their Y2K crisis centers yesterday as the first work day of the year 2000 came and went with barely a hint of the digital catastrophe some had feared.

Office workers, bankers, brokers, hospital and school administrators and home PC users reported mostly minor and easily remedied glitches linked to the digital rollover from '99 to '00.

The happy ending to the Y2K melodrama drew reactions ranging from relief to a nagging feeling the whole thing had been a hoax.

The worried and the cautious who bought electrical generators, food stocks and other gear in anticipation of a computer calamity seemed to be holding on to them for now. But food banks across the country asked for the surplus groceries and paper goods.

"We'll take anything people thought they were going to need when they were stuck down in their bomb shelters. There are plenty of people who can use it," said Bill Ewing, executive director of the Maryland Food Bank.

The post-Y2K campaign -- dubbed "Y Go 2 Waste" -- will focus on Central Maryland. Drop-off points were to be announced this week.

Still, there were plenty of reminders -- some serious, some comical -- that Y2K worries were not about nothing.

In the one Y2K glitch rated critical by the President's Council on Y2K Conversion, officials in the United Kingdom reported that some kidney dialysis machines made by the Swedish manufacturer Gambro were malfunctioning, posing a threat of infection.

The problem was first noted in Scotland. It was not immediately clear whether any of the Gambro machines are used in the United States. Company officials in Sweden could not be reached for comment.

Elsewhere:

Andy Kyte at the Gartner Groupconsulting firm said there was evidence of a software foul-up affecting some multinational corporations whose computers are synchronized using time signals. It was "causing quite a bit of a headache," he said.

A computer at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. malfunctioned for several hours Sunday, but did not affect operations or workers, Energy Department officials said. A ground station that processes information from military satellites was restored to normal operation yesterday after a date error shut it down on New Year's Eve.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reported a problem with electronic licensing and registration of gun dealers. The ATF said it would license and register dealers by paper until the problem is repaired.

Despite the problems, Bruce McConnell, of the President's Council on Y2K Conversion, said all the Y2K fuss, and all the hundreds of billions of dollars spent, paid off.

"Without this work, serious disruptions would have occurred," said McConnell, one of the federal government's top Y2K coordinators. "Unprecedented international cooperation, resilient infrastructure and the dedicated efforts of millions of Y2K workers have given us this exciting success."

McConnell's press conference was the last for the Y2K council. And Y2K command centers in Maryland and around the world began to shut down yesterday as civilization and its computers continued to hum.

Most of them, anyway.

A customer returning a movie to a rental shop in suburban Albany, N.Y., was presented with a $91,250 late fee after computers showed the tape was 100 years late. Employees at a video rental store in Florida used pen and paper because computers failed.

For a time yesterday, Vice President Al Gore's "Internet Town Hall" Web site touting his presidential candidacy carried the date "Monday, January 3, 19100."

Some computer screens flashed "1900" at four small airports around Chicago, and cash registers at Godiva Chocolate Co. in New York and 7- Eleven stores in Norway refused to work until a Y2K problem was fixed.

In Italy, Y2K bugs added a century to some Italian jail sentences and knocked 100 years off others. Court officials shut their offices while the problems were solved.

Japan's financial watchdog reported minor glitches at one foreign bank and 15 small domestic brokerages. Most were quickly fixed, and financial systems worldwide were running smoothly.

Police testing the sobriety of drivers in Hong Kong had to enter birth dates on breath-testing machines because of an apparent Y2K malfunction.

At the bottom of the computer pecking order, ordinary Marylanders were flicking on their aging pre-Pentium computers with some trepidation after being assured their machines were goners.

But most discovered that with a few keystrokes, they could correct confused machines that woke up in 1980, or 1994 or even 1910.

Sighs of relief like theirs were heard everywhere.

Baltimore County, which spent $9 million on Y2K-related computer technology in the past four years, shut down its emergency operations center at noon yesterday. The center opened at 6 a.m. to tackle any Y2K problems hindering the start of the work week.

They could have stayed in bed. "There was no trace of any problem today," said Elise Armacost, a county spokeswoman.

The state, which spent an estimated $150 million to squash the Y2K bug, reported no problems yesterday with the computers that control the state's finances, human services, transportation systems, public works, law enforcement and other operations.

The millions spent by area business to avert computer seizures on Jan. 1 was not thrown away, officials insisted.

"Had we not made those investments we would undoubtedly have had serious problems. The old [computer] code would not have tolerated the change," said Stephanie Reel, vice president for information services at Johns Hopkins Health System.

Even with all the spending, a dozen desktop computers at Hopkins experienced date-related problems, and a printer balked. The problems were quickly fixed.

"I think that's the kind of thing we'll probably see for a couple of weeks as people start to do things they haven't done yet," Reel said. "But I don't anticipate anything more significant than that."

Hopkins and the University of Maryland Medical System both shut down their Y2K command centers yesterday, two days ahead of schedule.

At the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, a paging system for the maintenance department failed, and there were scattered computer problems. "My computer is not working right now. But I've always had computer problems," said GBMC spokeswoman Vivienne Stearns-Elliott.

GBMC President Laurence Merlis congratulated his staff for the safe passage. Two tanker-trailers of water kept on hand for the weekend, just in case, were rolled away.

Stores that sold Y2K survival gear had expected the appearance of generators and kerosene heaters in return lines. "But that hasn't happened yet," said P. J. Stewart, manager of the Home Depot in Glen Burnie.

Local trade groups for small businesses and retailers said their members did not report any problems.

"My guess is, if something went wrong, they would have found it already," said Jim Goeden, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

Tom Saquella, president of the Maryland Retailers Association, also said he wasn't aware of any local retailers experiencing Y2K related problems.

America's banking system appeared to be operating largely free of Y2K glitches and billions of dollars in extra currency distributed to avert any financial panic was being shipped back to the Federal Reserve, officials said.

"It's business as usual as we hoped," Margaret Draper, a spokeswoman for the Securities Industry Association, said yesterday. "The lack of any real significant glitches was what we hoped for and what we worked hard for."

The U.S. auto industry, which spent $1.3 billion getting ready for the date change, was up and running yesterday morning with no reported problems.

At least 10 countries were putting their Y2K command posts on a normal business schedule yesterday, but the potential for nuisance problems continues, said McConnell.

"We do expect localized glitches and hiccups to continue to emerge over the weeks ahead," he said. "However, we are confident that they will be be handled in the course of normal operations."

"It'll be the third week in January before we have a really full assessment of what the overall picture is," he said. "But we're definitely past the acute phase at this point."

So why have things gone so well, even in countries that did relatively little to prepare for the date change?

"I think we are learning that the infrastructure is more resilient than we understood it to be," McConnell said. "We may have overestimated the vulnerability by a little bit there, although I think it was important to be cautious and error on the side of caution."

McConnell said many critical services in the developing world aren't controlled directly by computers. It's management information that's most at risk.

On the other hand, he said, "I think it's possible that they will experience some kinds of glitches that degrade quality of service over the next few weeks. But I think they'll be able to handle that within the normal course of business."

More Y2K work is needed in some parts of the world, McConnell said, especially at the nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union.

"However, because the systems involved only provide management information, the fact that this work has not yet been completed does not pose any immediate safety threat whatsoever," he said.

McConnell said the cross-border cooperation that helped get the world and its computers through the date change so smoothly may pay more dividends in the future.

His office will confer with officials in the World Bank's Information for Development program, to see whether the lessons learned can lead to ways to bring less-developed countries further into the Information Age.

Sun staff writers Michael Dresser, David Nitkin and Shanon Murray and wire services contributed to this article.

Originally published on Jan 4 2000

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), January 04, 2000.