ACR B767 FLC INITIATES TCASII RA CLB FOR AN ACR L1011 CONFLICTING AT SAME ALT. ZBW CTLRS EXPERIENCING RADAR FAILURE EQUIP PROBS AND DO NOT OBSERVE THE POTENTIAL CONFLICT.

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AT APPROX XA58Z; WE WERE SWITCHED TO ZBW ON FREQ 124.52. WE WERE ACFT #1 ATL/ZRH ON DEC/XA/98 BTWN RBV VORTAC AND YAHOO INTXN. WE HAD TROUBLE GETTING CHKED IN ON THE FREQ DUE TO CTLR HANDLING TOO MANY FREQS AND CALLS TO A LARGE NUMBER OF ACFT. AT XB00Z; WE RECEIVED AND RESPONDED TO A TCASII RA AND IMMEDIATELY TURNED L AND CLBED AS DIRECTED BY THE RA; LEVELED OFF AT FL336. CONFLICTING TFC WAS ACFT #2 AT FL330. HE ALSO RECEIVED A TCASII RA. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 422090: I WAS THE RELIEF PLT ON A B767ER ENRTE FROM ATL TO ZURICH. I WAS ON BREAK. I FELT THE ACFT CLB AND THEN SEVERAL SECONDS LATER DSND. AFTER COMPLETING MY BREAK; I RETURNED TO THE COCKPIT AND WAS TOLD BY THE CAPT AND THE OTHER FO THEY HAD RESPONDED TO A TCASII RA WHILE AT FL330. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 422080: THE SYS ENGINEER ADVISED US MINS BEFORE THIS ERROR THAT WE WERE TO TRANSITION TO OUR RADAR BACKUP SYS. THIS SYS LOCKED UP AND PREVENTED ME FROM MOVING DATA BLOCKS; MAKING INPUTS; OR TAKING/GIVING HDOFS. ALSO; WE HAD 3 SECTORS COMBINED WITH 14 ACFT ON FREQ AND WE HAD 2 FREQS ON; WHEN NORMALLY THERE IS ONLY 1. THE 2 ACFT INVOLVED ADVISED ME THAT THEY WERE TAKING ACTION DUE TO TCASII ALERT. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 422689: ACFT #1 WAS IFR OVER RBV TOWARD ACK. ACFT #2 WAS NEBOUND ON J174 TOWARD HTO. AT APPROX XA15Z; THE SYS ENGINEER CAME THROUGH THE CTL ROOM AND ANNOUNCED WE NEEDED TO GO THE BACKUP SYS DARC. WE TRANSITIONED TO DARC AND SHORTLY AFTERWARDS; WE RECEIVED AN ELECTRONIC MESSAGE AT THE D-POS THAT DARC IS DISABLED. WE QUESTIONED WHICH SYS TO USE. WE THEN COMPLETELY LOST THE NAS COMPUTER AND THE RADAR SIDE BUTTONS WERE DISABLED/INTERMITTENT. THE D-SIDE BUTTONS DID NOT WORK IN DARC AT ALL DURING THE CONFUSION OF: 1) STILL WORKING AIRPLANE; 2) NOT KNOWING WHICH SYS TO USE; 3) PROBS WITH THE SYS WE WERE USING; 4) CONFLICT ALERT IS NOT ACTIVE IN DARC. ACFT #1 AND ACFT #2 WERE MERGING AND TCASII TOOK OVER.