Y2K Problem was Real

I'm still seeing comments about the Y2K computer programming problem not being a bit deal. That is not all true. The reason the economy did not crash was that thousands of us worked for several years examining thousands or millions of programs, and fixing Y2K problems that we found. There were still some problems that slipped thru, but there was no way we could have fixed all the problems after they crashed in a short time period.
And afterward, we were thrown on the trash heap.

I have shown a few of the problems caused from Y2K bugs that did not get fixed, reported in the links below.

http://articles.cnn.com/2000-01-03/tech/japan.nukes.y2k.idg_1_nuclear-power-plant-tokyo-electric-power-tepco?_s=PM:TECH

Tokyo IDG Only a handful of computer problems have been reported in Japan in the new year to date; however, at least three hit systems associated with nuclear power plants, according to the government and power generating companies.

The potentially most serious problem occurred not at midnight but at 858 a.m. local time on Jan. 1 at the Fukushima Number 2 nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. TEPCO. The system that shows the position of the control rods in the reactor core failed, leaving operators unable to gauge the rods positions using the system. Also Computer problems hit three nuclear plants in JapanY2K bug hits heating system in Korean apartments, Two glitches hit Microsoft Internet services as New Year rolls over.


http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~eroberts/cs91/projects/y2k/Y2K_Errors.html

The Y2K bug did actually cause many problems in the United States and around the world. These problems weren't as widespread as many people expected them to be, but there were enough of them to make us realize that the Y2K bug was a real problem. The most common problems which arose immediately in the United States were very inconsequential for all but a small portion of the population. The majority of the problems related to the Y2K bug didn't occur as the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999, but in the following days. Below is a list of some of the bugs which were reported. A nation by nation list compiled by the International Y2K Cooperation Center is available at can be reached by clicking this link: IY2CC List of Bugs

The third system which experienced problems was the Single Family Insurance System (SFIS). This error prevented users from terminating FDHA mortgages.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development experienced a bug with its Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System. New records entered into the system had a default date of '01/01'19:0,' instead of '01/01/2000.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago experienced Y2K related problems in transferring $700,000 in tax payments. The bug was fixed and the payments were made the next day.

Bank credit card companies experienced a problem with credit card transaction verification software issues by CyberCash, Inc. This problem created duplicate transactions for merchants that did not update their systems to the newer, Y2K compliant versions of the software.

One Chicago area bank had to interrupt electronic Medicare payments to some hospitals. Insurance companies that process and pay Medicare claims had to send diskettes containing the processed claims to the bank via Federal Express or courier to keep payments on schedule.

500 members of the Golden 1 Credit Union found that, once year 2000 arrived, their ATM cards would not work at grocery stores and other locations which accept ATM cards as payments. The cards were programmed to expire on December 31, 1999. The cards were not supposed to have an expiration date, and the reason that such a small number of cards had the error is not known


http://xwalk.ca/Y2K.html

The global media on the other hand has treated the Y2K problem with a total lack of professionalism. They hyped the problem so much, that when the massive problems didn't occur, it became a story on "Why did the world spend billions on a problem that didn't even exist?" Let me tell you right now that the problem is still here and causing problems right where the experts expected. Although these stories on Y2K problems have been difficult to find, if one knows where to look, and compiles them together we get a different picture then the one that the Media is painting.

I don't think that anyone should panic about any of the following problems as most have already been resolved or are being resolved. The point I am trying to make is that the Governments and companies should be justified in the spending the billions to tackle the problem.

In a few cases when a company name has been used in the News, if possible I will keep the name of the company or product out of this paper to protect the company. Many companies that are experiencing problems will not disclose the problem, as it could devalue the company. Would you disclose that your company had a Y2K problem if the Media was declaring that there were no Y2K problem anywhere?

So far I have collected 29 pages of Y2K problems since the rollover only 4 days ago, I won't bore you with all of details and will condense the problems even further for this paper.

Nuclear Reactor problems around the world = 15
1 in Spain, 1 in Ukraine, 5 in Japan and least 8 in the United States. Three other reactors in the US have reported problems since the rollover but these three problems don't seem to be related to Y2K at this time. All problems in the 15 Reactors have been or are being resolved. (If the United States experience 3 non Y2K problems just after the rollover that shut down these nuclear reactors, then maybe we should pay more attention to the regular safety with the nuclear plant situation.)

In mid-1998, a nuclear utility in Sweden decided to see what would happen if it switched the clocks in its reactor’s computers to read January 1, 2000. The response surprised utility officials, who had expected business as usual. The reactor’s computers couldn’t recognize the date (1/1/00) and thus turned the reactor off. If the utility had waited to run this test, New Year’s Eve would have been rather cold in Sweden. The Y2K computer bug caused the problem.

A large US Department Store in Puerto Rico began experiencing many problems Jan. 2 with its own credit cards coming up as inactive due to Y2K.

A Scanner bought in August, 1999 stopped working after the rollover, After being reinstalled the fax registration sheet printed out, it was 01-01-100.

This statement was made prior to the rollover on Y2K testing: The Coast Guard chief claimed that some failures encountered during testing were loss of steering control on ships, and failure of fire detection and control systems.

A popular personal financial program sold for 1999 was used to download the end of year stock prices after the rollover. All prices it seems were multiplied by 1000. The person who experienced this Y2K problem now has a portfolio that is now valued at many millions of dollars according to the program. Another person reports he used the same program and his mutual fund quotes jumped 1,300 %. A third person using the newest version of software designed for 2000 found the program seemed to see "99" as "2099", not "1999" as it normally does. He need to enter "1999" instead.

MSNBC reported that the stock exchange in Islamabad, Pakistan, has crashed after rollover, because its computers could not read the double-zero date.