SCOUG OS/2 For You - June 1999

Q.  Dear Mr. Know-It-All,

OK, I've only got 6 months left. What do I need to do to make my OS/2 systems Y2K compliant?

A.  There are several areas you need to check:

Hardware

This is probably the easiest part. You need to check your BIOS and hardware for Y2K compliance. There are several sources for free test software. Check the NTSL, and IBM sites listed below. There are even more sources for test software you can pay for.

Run the test. If it passes you are probably OK. There's some paranoia out there about time dilation making the tests unreliable. Just check the date on the 1st after you have recovered. Depending on the failure, your motherboard and your tolerance for pain, you may need to:

• Reset the clock on the 1st
• Upgrade the BIOS
• Replace the motherboard
• Reset the clock every day after the 1st

Operating System

IBM has released several Warp FP's with Y2K fixes. The readme's show the last Y2K fixes as:

• Warp3 -- FP39
• Warp4 -- FP10

Subsystems

The subsystems such as TCP/IP and PEER also have FP's that include Y2K fixes. For warp4 you will need at least:

• TCP/IP V4.0 WR08423
• Peer V4 IP8407

A full list for all Warp versions, components and applications can be found at:

Applications

This is probably the most difficult area because there is so much to check. Any application that manipulates dates is a candidate for a Y2K problem. Some are benign. A list will not sort correctly. Others can cause loss of data or incorrect calculations.

You need to check each installed application individually. If the application vendor has a web site, there usually will be a listing in the support section showing which versions are Y2K complaint or listing the areas of non-compliance. Some of you use older applications whose vendors are long gone. You will have to devise your own test methods to check the compliance of these applications.

Testing Older Applications

There is a simple set of test you can do to estimate the level of compliance of older applications:

• Test date data entry for a ranges of date. A good starting set would be 1/1/2000, 1/1/00, 1/1/79, 2/29/2000.

• Test date windowing. Most application let you just enter the last 2 digits of the year. The application may or may not put values in the expected century. Test values such as 1/1/00, 1/1/38, 1/1/39, 1/1/50, 1/1/69, 1/1/70, 1/1/79 and 1/1/80 for reasonable interpretation.

• Test the logic for "maximum date". Some applications define a special value that sorts above all other dates (i.e. 99/99/99). If so, verify that this still sorts above 1/1/2000.

• Test date sorting and selection. If the application generates reports, verify that date selection and sorting operate as you expect.

• Repeat above tests operation with system clock set to 2/29/2000. The preceeding tests can be run with the computer clock set to the current date. However, there is guarantee that they will give the same results once Y2K has arrived. Before setting the clock forward, be sure that have a good backup and shut down any time-sensitive applications such as Relish if you would prefer not to have to use the backup. Also, shut down NISTIME or any other clock synchronizing applications you might be running.

Correcting Older Applications

If an upgrade is not available, you are limited to working around the problem or replacing the application. At a minimum, you may have to enter dates with 4 digit years.

Want to Know More

The following Web sites will get you starting on knowing more than you ever wanted to know about Y2K:

IBM Y2K Fixpaks	http://service5.boulder.ibm.com/pspfixpk.nsf/ f6b656aa84c801b78625662800691e9d?OpenView
IBM - Y2K Evaluation Tool	http://www.pc.ibm.com/year2000/evaluation.html
NSTL Home	http://www.nstl.com/
Y2K / Year 2000 Resource	http://www.yoursite.co.uk/y2k/
Y2K Resources: Web sites & Documents	http://www.occ.treas.gov/y2k/cdc_reso.htm
FDIC: Circular 1360.14 - Year 2000 Date Format and Processing Compliance	http://www.fdic.gov/about/y2k/136014b.html
The Millennium Bug FAQ	http://www.norex.com.au/~teejay/faq.html
Y2K compliance - a formal definition	http://www.allclear2000.com/y2k_defined.html
Y2K Internet Help and Tips Articles	http://www.suite101.com/articles/page.cfm/362
Year 2000 FAQ	http://www.aphis.usda.gov/it/y2k/y2k_faq.html