Y2K hits Washington State U. with few complications Updated 12:00 PM ET January 11, 2000

By Adrianne Bennett Daily Evergreen Washington State U.

(U-WIRE) PULLMAN, Wash. -- The school did not blow up.

Washington State University seems to have braved its way into the new millennium with only a few inconsequential scrapes.

The College of Agriculture and Home Economics endured the Y2K hype with very few complications.

"We had no significant problems, and hardly any minor ones," said Tony Wright, CAHE computer coordinator and scientist.

"A couple of computers had date trouble but those were problems that could be fixed in five minutes," he said.

"Fixing those problems were quicker to repair than problems we usually have."

By preparing ahead of time and following WSU's shutdown procedure, the college was able to avoid further problems, he said.

Other colleges at WSU, such as the College of Engineering and Architecture, have had no difficulties reported so far, said Nancy Hilliard, director of news and information services for the College of Engineering and Architecture.

"I have talked with the tech people, and they have reported no problems," Hilliard said.

The WSU Fire Department found everyone safe and sound on New Year's Eve.

There were no Y2K-related emergencies called in, said Capt. Jon Beck.

The only obstacle the Fire Department did encounter was with their own computers. The Emergency Medical Service database which the Fire Department uses to log in all their emergency calls was not Y2K compliant.

The state of Washington was supposed to have sent a program upgrade of the emergency database by the end of 1999, but the WSU Fire Department never received it.

On Jan. 1, the program would not allow the Fire Department to enter any new calls into the database.

The state sent the Fire Department the upgrade, and their EMS database now is working, he said.

"We were not expecting that problem," Beck said. "It is all taken care of now, though." The fire department alarms rolled over into the new year properly, and are all working as expected, he said.

The Student Computing Help desk, which provides computer services to all students, has not heard of any Y2K-related computer problems, said Ian Cornwall, help desk technician.

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