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# RE: Spyrus units going down -March 2002

- To: <bugtrack@dieboldes.com>
- Subject: RE: Spyrus units going down -March 2002
- From: "Ian S. Piper" <ian@dieboldes.com>
- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 17:55:05 -0800

We have the Spyrus units in house from Tari Runyan. Also please see the attached PDF file which is a page out of the Spyrus User's Manual. Also please see attached email that Steve Ricke posted in November 2001.
Other than trying to turn the units ON or OFF, I only worked on unit SN 50199. It was identical in condition to SN 50314, but I left 50314 untouched for others to investigate if necessary. I did not attempt to remove the battery cover from any unit other than SN 50199.
Here's a synopsis.
Eleven units were returned in total. Six in a bag marked "Quit working E Day" and five in a bag marked "Quit during testing".
NOTE: Display text is in listed in brackets [ ]. "\n" indicates second line of display text.
Quit working E Day

1. SN 50195 (tagged with a green dot and labeled 27) Unit arrived in a power ON condition showing [27 REP \n 8: 55]. Unit does not power OFF.
2. SN 50198 (tagged with a green dot and labeled 29) When powered ON, shows squares across entire display. Squares are pulsating.
3. SN 50199 (tagged with a green dot and labeled 28) When powered ON, shows squares on the first two and half columns on the left of the display. Squares are pulsating. Exhibited this fault after five ON/OFF cycles. Removed batteries for 10 min. Reinstalled batteries. Powered unit ON. It now displays [Card Manager \n 1.1.2], [28 NOP \n 1: 5]
4. SN 50200 (tagged with a green dot and labeled 29) Won't Power ON.
5. SN 50204 (no tag) Wouldn't power ON for the first two attempts. Pressed the OFF button, then the ON button. Unit now powers ON and displays [Card Manager \n 1.1.2], then [11 NOP \n 1: 28]
6. SN 50314 (tagged with a green dot and labeled 11) When powered ON, displays squares on the first two and a half columns on the left of the display. Squares are pulsating.

Quit during testing

1. SN 50158 (no tag) Powers On and displays Insert Manager Card.
2. SN 50168 (no tag) Won't Power ON.
3. SN 50170 (no tag) Powers ON, briefly displays [Card Manager \n 1.1.2], then displays [26 NOP \n 1: 0].
4. SN 50171 (no tag) Powers ON, briefly displays [Card Manager \n 1.1.2], then displays [25 NOP \n 1: 0].
5. SN 50172 (no tag) Won't Power ON. Battery cover missing. One battery still in unit. None of the missing materials were in the bag.

Ken: Which ones would you like?
Sincerely,
Ian S. Piper
Diebold Election Systems, Inc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com]On Behalf Of Ken Clark
> Sent: March 18, 2002 12:51 PM
> To: bugtrack@dieboldes.com
> Subject: RE: Spyrus units going down -March 2002

> Ian,

> Four will do so long as all seven truly behave the same. That is, all seven start up with “squares going across them” and all seven are non-responsive to new batteries. If there are other modes of failure, I need examples of each. Whatever you do, don’t load any new software on them with downldr.exe. Thanks.

> Ken

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com] On Behalf Of Ian S. Piper
> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 10:28 AM
> To: bugtrack@dieboldes.com
> Subject: RE: Spyrus units going down -March 2002

> Ken:

> I'll give you four out of seven. If we have to ship some samples of the problem units to the vendor (Spyrus) for investigation, I'd like to be able to do it quickly and not mess with Customs. Unless, of course, there is no rush on this, then I'll send you all seven.

> Sincerely,

> Ian S. Piper

> Diebold Election Systems, Inc.

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com]On Behalf Of Ken Clark
> > Sent: March 18, 2002 12:04 PM
> > To: bugtrack@dieboldes.com
> > Subject: RE: Spyrus units going down -March 2002

> > From: owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-bugtrack@dieboldes.com] On Behalf Of Tari Runyan
> > Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 3:21 PM
> > To: Bugs
> > Subject: Spyrus units going down -March 2002

> > we sent 40 spyrus units out to the polls for the March Primary and there were 20 for the polls and 20 backups - of those 7 failed - died- had squares going across them - we changed out batteries after they were replaced and it didn't help

> > Are these units permanently hooped? Please send all 7 units up to Vancouver, and we will take a look at them.

> > One thing that we noticed was they were in the same geographic area - (spooky) and they were very close in sequence numbers 196-200 and a couple others.

> > Could be a bad run, indeed. But it is odd that they would break mid stride, rather than not work at all. Having a Spyrus break while using it is a lot like having your hand calculator break while using it. There just isn’t a lot to them to break.

> > I do not think that we should have to rely on more than one backup for each location and if that is the case

> > I have always advocated three in a polling place given what they cost, but the sentiment is shared. I would rephrase this sentence as “7/40 failure rate is not acceptable”.

> > we need to rethink our using the Spyrus at all -

> > When you have finished rethinking, let us know your conclusions.

> > The fact that there were 8 keys being used may have something to do with it - but I do not know - and if it does why didn't all of them fail

> > Maybe. Good identification of differences from previous installs. The units have been very reliable up until now.

> > We need to determine the cause and the solution- I have returned the questionable units to TX and hope to have some resolution -

> > Damn. Ian, please reroute.

> > Ken

Attachment: `Spyrus Battery Replacement Instructions.pdf`
Description: Adobe PDF document

Attachment: `Spyrus Battery Replacement.rtf`
Description: MS-Word document

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