LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Operations at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles came to a halt Thursday afternoon after a statewide computer system failure that stopped in-person services for an hour, with kiosk and online services stopping for several hours.
The MyDMV portal remained offline Thursday evening.
The DMV is experiencing a statewide computer outage affecting all online services, kiosks and in-person transactions. Please check our website for updates. https://t.co/JQmhxKSfbe (6/2 1:36pm)
— Nevada DMV (@NevadaDMV) June 2, 2022
The interruption made Marley Roberts' first-ever visit to the DMV one to remember for a bad reason — beginning before the systems went down.
"They asked for documents that weren't in the handbook," she said. "So then I had to go back home, get the documents, and then drive all the way back here."
The computers crashed soon after she returned, and Roberts said she tried waiting out the system failure for an hour before giving up and going back home.
Roberts said she learned the in-person operations had been restored when she got a text from the DMV that her ticket number had been called.
"So I drove all the way back here just to stand in line to get a new ticket," she said.
#Update: All services but MyDMV have been restored.
— @SeanKTNV (@seanktnv) June 3, 2022
MyDMV is required to change your address, get a duplicate license, permit, ID, or driver authorization card, renew a drivers license or ID, get a ten day movement permit, and cancel your registration/surrender your plates.@KTNV https://t.co/oxZLUB3dH4
DMV spokesman Kevin Malone said their computers lost contact with the state server. While it wasn't clear what caused the disruption, he was confident that it wasn't malicious.
"The problem was entirely within the State of Nevada network, so it wasn't any kind of outside attack or anything like that," he said.
Malone said the system shouldn't have lost any data, so transactions before the 12:30 p.m. glitch should have been preserved.
Roberts said she hopes her future visits to the DMV run smoother than her first.
"This is a Thursday," she said. "Adults who are working or having jobs — if they're in my situation, they're losing their entire work day to the system, and I would hope the communication would be a little clearer."
Malone couldn't say exactly when all systems would be back online.
