SLA-250 and Year 2000 (Y2K)

From: Steve Stewart (steve@protogenic.com)
Date: Tue Apr 28 1998 - 03:01:54 EEST


Hello, all -

This morning I set our SLA-250 (with the 486 upgrade) to April 27,
2000. We are running Version 1.10, Rel. 3.83. It all seemed okay. This
is the same machine for which I had tested the BIOS and hardware, and
found full compliance.

It didn't take long! The first guy to start up the laser (by going into
the Power menu) reported that, each time he "backed out" of a menu by
hitting "x" for Exit, a box popped up with:

Executing SERVICE LASER OFF NOW /T

This, as you might guess, wants to shut off the laser every time you
move backward through the menu structure. While you can handle it by
"hitting any other key", I decided the confusion wouldn't be worth it to
the other shifts, so changed the date back to 1998. I guess the 250's
software can't do the math to decide when to shut off the laser with a
year of 2000.

I haven't tried it on the 350 or 500 yet.

Just a little taste of "why they call it the Millennium bug"

I'll get with 3D and let you know what their response is. Anybody want
to guess?

-- 
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
 \_ Steve Stewart                          Phone: 303-252-0212 \_
  \_ protogenic, inc.                         FAX: 303-252-0223 \_
   \_ 1490 w. 121 ave., suite 101    WebSite:www.protogenic.com  \_
    \_ westminster, co  80234         e-mail:steve@protogenic.com \_
     \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

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