Blair experiences computer blackout

Blair lost computer service for the beginning of first period this morning, Oct. 29, due to a significant power surge during the night. Service has since been restored, although individual computers may still experience power problems.

User support staff began working on correcting the problem early this morning. "I was getting called in the parking lot. I knew the problem before I got in,” said User Support Specialist Anne Wisniewski.

Wisniewski was able to restore service to the Novell servers at approximately 8:10 a.m. However, it appeared that many individual circuit breakers were tripped because of the power surge. Wisniewski said that building services staff would have to check all the electrical closets to restore electrical service to certain computer circuits. Individual circuit protectors in computer labs may also have to be reset.

A school-wide announcement around 8:25 a.m. advised teachers and students to restart their computers after the problem was fixed. According to Wisniewski, Mac computers were not affected unless "they didn't have local power.”

There have been additional concerns about the stability of Blair's Novell servers. Wisniewski said that one of the school's servers is experiencing problems that are not typical of brand-new Novell servers. There may be a "flaw with server one,” she said, and user support staff is looking to correct the flaw. "In the meantime, we just have these unexplained events.”