Here are the Links to the previous Y2K Failure Lists - Parts 1, 2, and 3, followed by the new Part 4.

Part One

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000ZXI

Part Two

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000ZXJ

Part Three

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000eK7

Part Four

40. Source: Windows Magazine Online April 01, 1999, Issue: 1004 Section: Solutions

Real-World Y2K Woes

http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?WIN19990401S0070

Speculation about how Y2K glitches will affect computing runs rampant these days, but a recent survey by the Information Technology Association of America in Arlington, Va., paints a realistic picture of the problems you can expect the Y2K bug to cause. More than one-third of the survey's 400 respondents reported problems ranging from computer crashes to chip failures. Data-exchange errors affected 34% of the respondents. The other most common problems were accounting errors (27%), corrupted database files (21%) and computer crashes (18%). Not even Y2K-ready commercial software packages are bug-free: 28% of the respondents reported errors with such programs.

Copyright (c) 1999 CMP Media Inc.

41. Source: New Media News - 03/24/1999 Stan.Comment - eBay Hell

http://www.newmedianews.com/stan/1999/s010898.html

(Excerpt. Although the author questions the goof's link to Y2K, he is absolutely correct regarding "little glitches". Thanks to Diane for the heads up on this.)

It apparently all started when eBay's computers goofed and sent out invoices for December 1999 rather than December 1998 (an early Y2K glitch?), indicating people owed big finance charges because they were a year behind on their payments. Some eBay customers are very cranky. Others can't figure out how or why they're getting the nasty messages (me included). If nothing else, the episode shows that little glitches can quickly turn into big PR problems.

42. Source: Wall Street Journal (requires paid registration)

(Here is another example of Y2K impacting a company's stock value)

Firm loses nearly half of its market value

http://interactive.wsj.com/bin/login?Tag=/&URI=/archive/retrieve.cgi%253Fid%253DSB923576728465823779.djm&

43. Source: Washington Post

Y2K Bug Takes Bite Out of Computer Firm's Shares By Jerry Knight - Thursday, April 8, 1999; Page E04

(Here is yet another example of a stock taking a big Y2K hit.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-04/08/256l-040899-idx.html

Yesterday Axent stock was down to $9.37 1/2, a 71 percent loss in just five trading days. Axent blamed its reversal of fortune on the year 2000 computer bug, saying its corporate customers are spending so much money getting their systems ready to deal with the Y2K problem that they've cut back on other computer expenditures. Analysts who follow the information technology industry have been warning about that diversion of resources for months. They say it could get worse as the end of the year nears and companies are forced to throw money at computer systems that can't recognize the year 2000.

44. Source: Washington Post

New D.C. Computer System Starts Off With Glitch By Sari Horwitz - Wednesday, April 7, 1999; Page B02

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-04/07/165l-040799-idx.html

(Excerpts)

The District's spanking new state-of-the-art computer system cut its first payroll checks yesterday, but not before a bumpy start, city officials said. About 30 city employees were overpaid, and an additional 300 District workers couldn't immediately get at their money because payroll checks that were supposed to be deposited directly into their credit union accounts were inexplicably held up. By late afternoon, city officials intervened and the money was deposited at the D.C. Credit Union.

Yesterday's first round of payroll checks on the new Y2K-compliant system was six years in the making. The computer program that previously kept track of payroll and personnel for the District's 32,000 employees was first installed in 1972, relying on 1960s technology. The equipment was so old that replacement parts were no longer manufactured and technicians had to cannibalize parts from other equally antiquated machines.

More than $10.2 million was spent on the new system, which merges the city's personnel and payroll records for the first time. It was supposed to be running at least two years ago.

45. Source: TechWeek April 5, 1999

http://www.techweek.com/articles/4-5-99/feedback.htm

(Excerpts - This describes how a Y2K test impacted the network)

So, I went off to examine my recently purchased (January 1999) server and workstations. My "tech guy" got some Y2K assessment software and we installed it. Part of the testing sets the clock forward to 1/1/2000. Another part of the test resets the clock back to the current date. In the thrill of the moment, we forgot to do the second part. So, we merrily rebooted our network into the unknown chaos of the next millennium, not realizing what we had done.

Our first problem was that users could not log onto their workstations. All passwords were rejected. Being technical people, we assumed the users were the problem and made them re-enter their passwords. Numerous times, until they got a bit testy. Finally, we went to the administrative module to assign new passwords and everything was blank. No users. No passwords. No options. Nor could we add users. My company ground to a halt. Tempers flared, accusations started flying about buying inexpensive hardware. You could almost hear the battle theme from Star Trek.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), April 11, 1999