Computer Service Restored at DMV Offices

Systems were down at offices across California, but they were reported restored at about noon

By Lori Preuitt and Melissa Pamer

| Tuesday, Aug 14, 2012 | Updated 7:56 PM PDT

Computer Service Restored at DMV Offices

Computers were down at all DMV field offices across California on Tuesday. The cause of the outage was unknown and it was not clear when the department's systems would be restored.

Computer systems at field offices of the California Department of Motor Vehicles were knocked offline Tuesday, causing delays across the state. Service was restored at about noon.

The DMV had tweeted just after 9 a.m.: DMV is currently experiencing technical difficulties that may affect customer transactions. We appreciate your patience.

At 11:08 a.m., the account tweeted: The State is currently experiencing communications issues between AT&T & Verizon that is impacting both DMV online & field office services.

A DMV spokesman said there were two separate problems causing the statewide outage: changes made by AT&T to a "circuit" that affected several state departments; and problems in communications between a DMV router and Verizon.

Both problems were fixed about noon, a spokesman with the state's California Technology Agency said. The circuit issue also affected the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Cal HR and Caltrans, agency spokesman Adam Dondro said.

The Department of Real Estate also said it had been affected.

Just after noon, DMV department spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez emailed media to say: "We are back up and running."

People showing up at DMV branches early Tuesday were given next-day appointments.

Online services at dmv.ca.gov were also temporarily affected -- and unavailable -- in some areas, the DMV's Mike Marando said.