Re: Oxford/Canberra LB5100 Y2K problem - Help

[Neon John <johngd@bellsouth.net>]

Daniel.Harlan@orst.edu wrote:
> 
> Hello Radsafers
> 
> I need advice and cost-conscious options for fixing a Y2K bug we discovered
> in the following counter:
> 
> Oxford (now Canberra) LB-5100 windowless proportional counter.  The machine
> is about 8 years old and is controlled by a computer running Windows 3.1.
> The interface software consists of C++ code and Microsoft Excel macros run
> from an Excel (ver 4) interface. Communication between the counter and PC is
> through a National Instruments GPIB board.
> 
> The Y2K problem is in the decay calculations used for determining isotope
> efficiency, i.e. decayed values for source activities are greater than
> original activities by minus 100 years. The error is apparently in the C++
> code or the macros, but in either case can not be fixed in-house, and there
> are no patches available from Canberra.

I don't know that instrument but I unfortunately do know the
environment.  I use windows 3.11 (windows for workgroups) and Excel
5.0 on a 10+ year old 486 for an application here.  It was fully y2k
compliant.  I left the system running through New Years to see what
would happen.  Dates were handled incorrectly in Excel. Year 2000
dates came up 1900. However, when I rebooted the computer in
January, everything was fine.  It appeared (ran too fast to be sure)
to run something extra during Excel's startup that one time. 
Probably a patch installing itself.  This sounds like exactly your
problem.  Grab a copy of Excel 5.0 which is backward compatible with
4.0 and install it.  Or if you'd like to send me a spreadsheet, I'll
be happy to run it here.

I kinda doubt the problem is in the C++ code.  In the libraries, C
tracks date as the number of days since the epoch (C's epoch, that
is).  Most programmers, myself included, compute dates using the
Julian calendar which has no concept of Y2K.  If the problem is in
the C++ code, it is probably either in library or dll code.  Either
of these can be replaced by a skilled programmer.  If the Excel 5.0
fix doesn't fix the problem, you probably need to track down a
hotshot C programmer and let him see what he can do.

John
-- 
John De Armond
johngdSPAMNOT@bellsouth.net
http://neonjohn.4mg.com
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