*Year 2038..Again the replica of Y2K*
Note: This is just for FYI only, Please Don't try
this. This is true and if you do this then your
network based applications will not work.
The Year 2038 Problem
Triaging steps...
1. login to yahoo messenger
2. send instant message to anyone - fine its
working...
3. now, change your system date to
4. Confirm weather your date is changed
5. again send instant message to anyone...
Your YM crashes....
* * * YES ALL NETWORK BASED APPLICATION WILL NOT WORK
NOW * * *
*Why.....
What is it?*
Starting at GMT 03:
It is expected to see lots of systems around the world
breaking magnificently: satellites falling out of
orbit, massive power outages (like the 2003 North
American black out), hospital life support system
failures, phone system interruptions, banking errors,
etc. One second after this critical second, many of
these systems will have wildly inaccurate date
settings, producing all kinds of unpredictable
consequences. In short, many of the dire predictions
for the year 2000 are much more likely to actually
occur in the year 2038! Consider the year 2000 just a
dry run. In case you think we can sit on this issue
for another 30 years before addressing it, consider
that reports of temporal echoes of the 2038 problem
are already starting to appear in future date
calculations for mortgages and vital statistics!
In the first month of the year 2038 C.E. many
computers will encounter a date-related bug in their
operating systems and/or in the applications they run.
This can result in incorrect and wildly inaccurate
dates being reported by the operating system and/or
applications. The effect of this bug is hard to
predict, because many applications are not prepared
for the resulting "skip" in reported time anywhere
from 1901 to a "broken record" repeat of the reported
time at the second the bug occurs. Also, may make
some small adjustment to the actual time the bug
expresses itself. This bug to cause serious problems
on many platforms, especially Unix and Unix-like
platforms, because these systems will "run out of
time".
What causes it?
Time_t is a data type used by C and C++ programs to
represent dates and times internally. (Windows
programmers out there might also recognize it as the
basis for the CTime and CTimeSpan classes in MFC.)
time_t is actually just an integer, a whole number,
that counts the number of seconds since January 1,
1970 at 12:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time. A time_t value
of 0 would be
(one second after midnig ht)
some example times and their exact time_t
representations:
Date & time time_t representation
By the year 2038, the time_t representation for the
current time will be over 2 140 000 000. And that's
the problem. A modern 32-bit computer stores a "signed
integer" data type, such as time_t, in 32 bits. The
first of these bits is used for the positive/negative
sign of the integer, while the remaining 31 bits are
used to store the number itself.
The highest number these 31 data bits can store works
out to exactly 2 147 483 647. A time_t value of this
exact number, 2 147 483 647, represents Janu ary 19,
2038, at 7 seconds past
So, at
time_t used in a 32-bit C or C++ program will reach
its upper limit.
One second later, on
GMT, disaster strikes. When a signed integer reaches
its maximum value and then gets incremented, it wraps
around to its lowest possible negative value. This
means a 32-bit signed integer, such as a time_t, set
to its maximum value of 2 147 483 647 and then
incremented by 1, will become -2 147 483 648. Note
that "-" sign at the beginning of this large number. A
time_t value of -2 147 483 648 would represent
So, if all goes normally,
suddenly become
across the globe, and every date calculation based on
this figure will go haywire. And it gets worse. Most
of the support functions that use t he time_t data type
cannot handle negative time_t values at all. They
simply fail and return an error code.
Hi,
Lot of interesting stuff there on your blog...
I'll definitely read it these days...
got your blog from "siva19185" from the chip-india site..
u can take a look at my blog too is u wish
http://www2.blogger.com/profile/02317209775232148695
This site list all my blogs which created
Anyways.. Continue the good work and MERRY CHRISTMAS
sure..thnks & keep visiting.....
Umm,
you said by changing the system date and time to certain thing...the ym crashes?
Well dear i have just one thing to say. if changing the date on ur system and msgn thru ym and ym crashed its a bug!!!
if your theory is real then if anyone changes dates or tiem the satellits should come crashin outa the orbit? and if everyone on planet changing date and time on their system then the whole planets comm systems would fail haha
well your THEORY sorry but i must say this was DUMB!!!
And one quetion if u changed the date and time and ym crashed.. then y dint the satelits and stuff come down to earth? lol.... so now u know? or i hope its clear :)
hey i dont know satellite technology....i said abt the eror in todays windows system...it wil crash ur firewall & all net based application 4 sure..test it if u want....i did & it happens!!!it is a treat unnoticed by most computer users..
Well yes prethi, preety, i do agree with that... thats surely a bug... if this was discovered by you why not report it to microsoft or such?
and also...i agree if theres a buge obvious many wouldnt notice... many lay ppl...but others like us or you would...
Now about satellite thats just another way of spreading rumor hehe ;) its ok thou...nice work...atleast someones got enof time to change dates and times and check for bugs ;) Best of luck
by the way i must say, i love most of your articles and posts... its fun to go thru...
Nice Site...
You are right about what you said about 2038
I have no idea how did James conclude that you implied in your blog that people can cause to satelites to fall off sky by changing time on their machines.
And being aware of such issues doesnt mean you have too much time on your hands- just means that you are informmed
And James- btw- on visiting your sitte- the browser back button starts acting funny.
You might want to fix that in your spare time ;)
Hey rajiv,
check what preethi had written, thats what i replied to!!! she did mention about sattellites falling outa orbit and such! now u know why i came up with such a reply!
And bout on visiting my site the back button of browser acting weird, thats a technique to keep people on my site and not letting them go back !! haha and if indeed u wanna go back.. u can click on the arrow next to back button and select the page individually!
Children Children, It's not a BUG! 2038 is the next Y2K. Most software uses time in one way or another. Typically, the current time is requested from the operating system. The value returned on most computers with 32-bit CPUs is the number of seconds since Jan 1, 1970, and is returned in a 32-bit signed integer. In early 2038 (exactly 3:14:08 AM GMT on January 19,2038), the number of seconds since Jan 1, 1970 will exceed the largest positive value that can be held by a 32-bit signed integer. This could potentially cause problems with any non-Y2038-compliant systems/software that uses the current time.
Next year, 2008, some programs that do 30 year interest calculations will begin to fail. I don't know if satellites will drop out of the sky; or even if by 2038 we'll even use satellites. But don't poo-poo the idea. It's true and there's a logical reason for it.
Cheney
The internal time format inside most computers is a signed 32-bit number, that measures the number of seconds since a certain arbitrary date that someone chooses during the computer's original design phase. The largest number available is 2147483648 seconds, which works out to a bit over 68 years! On Unix & Linux computers, that arbitrary date was set to Jan 1, 1970; but on DOS and Windows computers, that date is Jan 1, 1980! So if you add 68 years to 1970, you come up with 2038. But with Windows PCs, you have to add 68 years to 1980, which works out to 2048. So not to worry, you have ten extra years to work things out on Windows! And by that time, 64-bit computers will be ubiquitous, so the time counter would be a signed 64-bit value rather than 32-bit. The maximum number of years in a 64-bit counter is 292,271,023,045 -- a bit over a a quarter trillion years!! The Sun will have long since burned out by then, and most of the universe will have receded away from our point of view.
Using a 64 bit computer doesn't magically mean that all 32 bit integers become 64 bit. A 64 bit operating system can certainly use a 32 bit signed integer.
Let's just hope that those working on the innards of those 64 bit operating systems decide to use 64 bit integers for time keeping!
Michael