STORY:
Millennium bug strikes Canadian university early

Computer glitches are causing constant busy signals, long lineups and growing frustration a year earlier than feared at the University of Alberta in Canada. According to a report in the Edmonton Journal, an effort to head off the Year 2000 computer bug is at least partially to blame.

Students are irritated by problems trying to change their schedules for the winter semester, U of A registrar Brian Silzer to the Edmonton Journal. Some students tried in vain for hours to get through to the university's automated phone registration system this week. And when they finally got through, the system mysteriously disconnected them.

The ailing phone system caused thousands of students to line up in person, some for up to four hours. "I didn't even bother lining up last week," said Doug Culbert, a fourth-year student in Latin American studies. "It would have been a waste of time, because they were so big.

The problem came after the university installed a new mainframe computer as it changes its registration system, Silzer told the Journal. The university is making the switch in part to avoid problems with the millennium bug, Silzer said. The new mainframe at the university turned out to be incompatible with the current phone system. That caused the system to malfunction, Silzer said.

DATE: 1/13/99

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