At DMV branches across Nevada Tuesday, long lines never materialized, clerks had time on their hands and ugly driver's license pictures went untaken.

But it wasn't because the DMV and its frazzled customers had a perfect day. Far from it.

Instead, the issuance of licenses, license plates and vehicle registrations came to a sudden, lengthy stop due to a glitch that darkened the DMV's computers for more than five hours.

"They said I can wait or come back tomorrow," Eva Trautwein, 47, of North Las Vegas said after being turned away from the DMV's Carey Avenue branch. "This is not a pleasant experience to begin with, and now you have to do it twice. I have better things to do, no matter what it is."

A "hiccup" in the DMV's network around 10 a.m. severed links between a Department of Information Technology mainframe computer in Carson City and DMV bureaus statewide, effectively blinding bureau officials to their own records until a system reboot awakened the link around 3:30 p.m., officials said.

"Our computers are unable to communicate with that mainframe. ... This is a statewide problem," Tom Jacobs, spokesman for the DMV, said during the outage. "We're feeling a little helpless. We're dependent on that mainframe. There's nothing we can do."

After the reboot, DMV bureaus were able to finish the day offering the usual array of services, and today customers should expect busier-than-usual bureaus comparable to the increased crowds seen the day after a holiday. "We're certainly expecting that to happen. We're adjusting shifts and schedules to handle that," Jacobs said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the problem. Jacobs estimated several thousand people at 21 DMV bureaus statewide -- including five in the Las Vegas Valley -- might have been affected.

Duties that required immediate computer access, such as driver licensing and the issuances of license plates and auto registrations, were put on hold as a result of the outage.

Drivers could still take written and behind-the-wheel driving tests, surrender out-of-state plates, get temporary permits and submit written registration renewal, officials said.

"We can do anything that doesn't require us to go into the computer," Jacobs said.

Also knocked out of commission were self-serve kiosks and on-line driver services, Jacobs said.

Around 1:30 p.m. at the Carey branch, workers were still trying to get some basic services done as a steady trickle of people showed up at the facility. Some were being greeted by staffers with the question: "Is this the first time you've been here today?"

The usually crowded waiting area had only about a dozen occupied seats, and voices echoed down the largely empty hall. Most clerk stations were unoccupied.

At Carey, Steve Hanley was able to get a temporary registration permit. "It was a minor hiccup for us. The computers are down. There's nothing you can do in that situation," the 32-year-old Las Vegas man said. "I'm just glad I'm legal."

David Marciniak wasn't as kind. The 58-year-old Las Vegan was unable to get a handicapped parking placard as a result of the outage.

"Computers are always broke every time I come here. It's either the computer's broke or there's really long lines," he said. "I've been here five years. They've had problems for five years now."

At first, the nearly deserted parking lot at Carey looked like a blessing to Gloria Daley, who was taking her granddaughter, Lynne Parrella, 17, to set an appointment for a driving test.

"I said, 'Wow! Look at this! Nobody's here today!' I didn't think the computers were down," Daley said.

Jacobs said the DMV's computer network's last major problem was during its last major upgrade in 1999, when widespread breakdowns in what was dubbed "Project Genesis" resulted in customer waits of up to seven hours or more at some DMV offices.

"Since then, no, there's been no particular pattern of of problems with these computers," Jacobs said.

Jacobs said that any drivers facing face late fees as a result of being unable to renew licenses, plates or registrations due to the outage will have those fees waived.

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