Re: Oxford/Canberra LB5100 Y2K problem

[Debby Steva <dps3c@virginia.edu>]

We had the same problem only we have Excel 97 which does not like pre- 1980
dates so we have set back the computer's clock to 1992 and changed the initial source calibration dates by subtracting 8 years (this only works for sources that were made after 1988) which makes the source calibration date 1981 instead of 1989 for example.  If you have older sources, you will need to decay correct the original source activity to a post 1980 date and then re-enter it into the source file.  Is not perfect but it works for what we need to do.
We also were not pleased to learn that the Y2K fix was going to cost almost as much as a new
counter! - and company not too willing to work something out.

D. Steva
University of Virginia

Vincent Chase wrote:

> We had several older systems that were not Y2K compliant and that could not be upgraded without significant cost.  In some cases, the cost of the upgrade was almost as much as purchasing a new model.
>
> Because some of these instruments had minimal, but critical, use, we decided to reset the date.  After doing a little research, I found that 1972 is an exact copy of 2000, including the leap day in February.  This makes decay correction easier since you don't have to worry about whether to include a leap day in your calculation.  The researchers find it easy to substitute 1972 for 2000, 1971 for 1999 and 1970 for 1998 and not have to worry recalculating the month and day.
>
> The only glitch to this system is if you use MS Excel to calculate the date and have upgraded to Excel 97.  Excel 97 only goes back to 1980.  We contacted our IS department and made sure that the units using Excel did not get upgraded to Excel 97.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Regards,
> Vince
>
> Vince Chase
> Radiation Safety Officer
> Wyeth-Ayerst Research
> CN 8000
> Princeton, NJ 08543
>
> phone 732-274-4478
>     fax  732-274-4592
>
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