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Computer Problems Derail Department of Environmental Protection

  • Scott Detrow
Work ground to a standstill at the Department of Environmental Protection today, because of widespread computer problems.
The Patriot-News’ Jan Murphy reports the issues have now been fixed, and life has returned to normal inside Harrisburg’s Rachel Carson Building.

Computers are back and operating at the state Department of Environmental Protection after a problem caused by a contractor error during scheduled maintenance forced workers to stay off their computers throughout the morning.
“Everything is fixed and back up and running,” said Dan Egan, a spokesman for Gov. Tom Corbett’s Office of Administration.
DEP workers were greeted this morning after their arrival with an announcement to not turn on their computers or risked losing data on their hard drive. The problem affected the agency’s computers statewide, as well as those of the Environmental hearing Board.
Egan said an investigation found the problem was the result of an error made while a contractor was updating the agency’s log-in script. That is the series of commands that “boots up” a computer after the employee logs in with their user name and password.

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