Recent electrical work in Bessey Hall may have led to the damage of at least 15 computers in the building’s computer lab Thursday.

Trent Seigfried, sophomore in biology and manager of the Bessey Hall computer labs, informed the Daily that half of the Bessey Hall lab has been closed to students and has affected one class because of the electrical problems.

Seigfried said cases of power surges and voltage charges were reported after Facilities Planning and Management completed work in the Bessey Hall computer labs.

To remedy the problem, an electrician placed a power gauge in one of the rooms that read there was a power failure and some high frequency noise.

The gauge also recorded more than 500 neutral ground voltage readings in just under nine hours.

Seigfried said too many of these can damage any computer attached to that power supply.

In another room that Seigfried said was “always neat as a pin” tables were pulled from the walls, plugs were out of their sockets and wires and cords were scattered all over the room.

The main computer, complete with signs saying “Do not turn this computer off,” was disconnected because of the room’s faulty power source.

“I have never seen this computer shut down in my life,” Seigfried said. “But we have to keep it that way until we know if it’s damaged or not.”

Seigfried said the lab contains about 30 or more computers and that at least 15 of the Macintosh Power PCs complete with CD-ROMs could have sustained minor damage to their hard drives or irreparable damage

“We won’t know the financial extent of the damage until we can find out how badly each computer is damaged,” he said. “It may take a week or so before we find out anything.”

Seigfried said all the computers in the lab are owned by the Department of Biology and that the computers potentially damaged were relatively new. He said he was sure the damage would cost a considerable amount of money, but didn’t know if the biology department would foot the bill.

He said all the computers would have to be taken to another location and tested to see how much damage, if any, had been done.

The lab located at 105 Bessey Hall is primarily used by students in biology classes to work on assignments and to get notes and study guides for classes.

It was also the classroom for Biological/Pre-Medical Illustration 453, but all meetings for this class have been moved to the Molecular Biology Building until further notice.

Workers with Facilities Planning and Management were unable to be reached for comment.