nt.excite.com
Computer date glitch locks workers out
By CHRIS HAWKE
GREAT NECK, N.Y., Jan. 5 (UPI) The head of an Long Island,
N.Y., insurance company says a flaw in the hardware of his brand
new card- access security system locked most of his workers out
of their office building on Monday because the date had changed
from 1998 to 1999.
David Sterling of Sterling and Sterling Insurance says the glitch
ended his skepticism about the predicted widespread electronic
havoc that will be caused by computer chips confused by the date
at the beginning of 2000.
Many computer chips only use two digits to represent the year.
The so-called Y2K bug occurs when the computer instructions
hard-wired into chips misread 2000 as 00.
Sterling, an expert in Y2K liability, says he was very skeptical
about the widespread predictions of malfunctions in everything that
uses date-sensitive microchips from telephone and medical
equipment to nuclear reactors.
However, after a personal computer-driven security system would
not open the magnetic locks on the entrance to his company for
over half of his staff of 85 people, Sterling says he has a new
attitude.
"What scared me was the problem was not with the personal
computer, which we checked. It was a chip in a control panel," he
said.
An employee at the security company used by Sterling confirmed
to United Press International that one their systems has a bug that
took effect on New Year's Eve and needs to be fixed with a chip
and new software.
Employees at Texas-based DSX, identified by the security
company as the system's manufacturer, refused to comment.
However, the DSX Web site talks about the Dec. 31, 1999,
problem in some of their systems and offers a program that will
temporarily fix the problem. The site recommends a system
upgrade.
Sterling said: "God forbid there is a chip like this in an airplane in a
very important role navigational equipment or who knows? On
Dec. 31 I'm going to be roasting chestnuts over an open fire with
my family and friends around me at home."
Copyright 1999 by United Press International. |
