Szumski had no explanation for the crash but speculated that the computer might not have had the capacity to accommodate the program.

"Our guess was that we probably had too many things open on the computer, becausesomebody else the next day actually tried it onour computer and it worked fine," Szumski said.

Another blocking group could not enter into thecomputer the ID number of one of their blockmateswho is on leave this semester.

"We called University Hall and they told us tobring in all our housing information and theywould enter it into the computer, and so, I guessthey did," said Loh-Sze Y. Leung '97. "If we don'tget housing, then we'llcomplain."

In addition to assistants like McKinney,Faculty of Arts and Science personnel have beenfielding phone calls over the computer serviceshotline from students with questions about thelottery.

"Mostly it's when something will happen [suchas] an error on a screen," said a hotlinerepresentative. "It happens rarely, but when itdoes we help them."

McKinney reported that a dozen students havecome to him in the Science Center needing help;the hotline representative estimated that 15people have called with questions about thelottery.

In a message posted on the Internet yesterday,Richard E. Joltes, manager of hardware andfacilities for FAS computer services, praised thisyear's lottery entry system.

"As of the time of this posting, over 1300successful entries have been made," he wrote. "Thesoftware works as we planned, and has proved verystable overall."

While the entry of choices may have beenelectronic, housing assignments will be deliveredwith old-fashioned slips of paper. Those decisionsare scheduled to be door-dropped on Wednesday,April 6, in the rooms of the persons in eachblocking group who entered the housing choicesinto the network.

In addition to entering the names and housingpreferences into the computer, each blocking groupmust submit a hard copy of the lottery form and aroom contract card for each member of the group tothe Science Center basement by today