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Jane..
This problem is a hardware issue with the Laptop
themselves. The only short-term solution, and it is not a very
good one, is that you emphasize with the pollworkers to be
patient. You select something, wait about 5 seconds before moving on to
the next selection or command. I can create the same problem here when I
attempt to give it to many commands at once, or if I am quick on the "enter"
button. The only solution is to wait 5 seconds before moving to the next
selection or command.
Of course, the only other solution is to send them all back
and get new ones......
Rodney
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 3:44
PM
Subject: Gaston, NC PollBooks Freeze
up
Using PB 3.13.1.4
on a AMS Tech Roadster. Been having ALOT of pollbooks freeze up in
Gaston, NC. Charged the battery for 24+ hours, and still will
freeze up at different time intervals. Is this a long enough time frame?
This will cause us a great deal of pain on election day. ANY input on this
would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jane
I've
canvassed Carleton Clark and Rodney Turner on the Gaston PollBook
problems. They were the individuals involved with the PollBook
repairs. The three units that Rodney serviced had
definite hard drive failures. Those hard drives were replaced under
warranty by our vendor. The Gaston laptops came with a three year
warranty. If these hard drives continue to fall out
after that warranty expires, perhaps Global can source new hard drives and
repair the laptops in house. It would be greatly
appreciated if, when a unit was back in
house for repair, the hard drive make and model could be determined so we can
find a source for these items.
The
six(?) additional units that failed were serviced by Carleton. He found
that the reason they did not boot (even when plugged into a good AC source)
was due to the internal battery being completely discharged. He found
that recharging the battery solved the booting problem. I don't know if
this is a common problem among all laptops or just these
laptops.
On the side, Clint Rickards called me
about a similar problem he had with his personal laptop. I recommended
that he fully charge the battery before attempting to reboot. I haven't
heard from him as to the result of that procedure.
After talking with Robert Pickett, he was going to
make the recommendation that Gaston constantly charge the battery while they
are stored on the shelf between elections. Does anybody foresee a
problem with this?
Ian
We
have not had any success in reproducing the laptop card burning failures in
McKinney. I have assigned a
person to burn cards all day and without failure. We do not have a solution to this
problem, since we can not duplicate it here. Without a solution, I would
recommend that we pre burn as many cards as possible for each precinct. I do not know what else we can do,
but any and all input is welcome.
Larry J.
Dix
Global Election
Systems
(972)-542-6000
-----Original
Message-----
From: Robert
Pickett [mailto:rpglobal@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2000 1:05
PM
To: Ken Clark; Larry
Ensminger; Larry Dix; Ian Piper; Bob Urosevich; Tab Iredale
Cc: Wes Krivanek; John
McLaurin
Subject: Gaston
County Poll Book Problems
As
ya’ll are aware, many of the lap top computers used in precincts as poll
books in Gaston County have a high rate of failure. They will lock-up (some up to 25
times per day) requiring the poll worker to turn off the lap top computer
and reboot. The poll workers
complain about the slow speed of the card burning procedure as it is and
this just adds insult to injury, creating more
frustration.
I
realize that we have tried to emulate the problem with little success. Nevertheless the situation still
exists. Is it a hardware
problem, a software problem or a combination? Nobody seems to know. With the impending general election
and other TS accounts coming on line, it might be in our and our customers’
best interest to find a solution.
Obviously, if we have a problem creating voter cards, we could have a
serious situation that would be difficult to overcome. What is our next
move?
Thanks
for your attention to this matter
Robert
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