Printer compatibility

This undesired event occurred on a DP Class 3 drillship, whilst operating in open bus configuration and undertaking drilling operations.

As part of regular checks, the DPO was conducting a DP alert light test. When switching from red to green, OS1, which was in command at the time, was noted to have frozen. The DPO attempted to take command on OS2, but that itself then froze.

Finally the DPO attempted to view the alarms on OS5 but that subsequently froze too.

OS1 and OS2 were restarted with no issues and OS1 was placed in command of the Main DP Controller. The DPO restarted OS5 and connected OS5 to the Backup DP Controller, the DPO then attempted to take command of the Backup DP Controller. After pressing the take button, OS5 froze. That process was repeated twice more with OS5 freezing and requiring a restart each time an attempt to take command of the Back-up DP Controller is attempted.

Upon troubleshooting it was determined that it was the changing of the DP Alert status to YELLOW or RED that resulted in the frozen operator stations.

On investigation, the following was found:

• Changing of the alert status automatically generates a command for a status report to be printed.
  
  
• Changing of command from main to backup controller generates a command for a status report to be printed.
  
  
• The vessel had recently undertaken an operator system upgrade to Windows 10 on the OSs.

It was determined that the recent Windows 10 upgrade was incompatible with the older printer / printer drivers installed on the vessel. The print command of the status reports caused the freeze due to printer incompatibility with recent OS Windows 10 upgrade.

The OEM’s remote support team removed printers & printer drivers from OS1, OS2, OS3, and OS5 and new OEM printers were installed and tested.

This event highlights the importance of thorough testing when any updates are undertaken, especially when it is a common software update across redundant equipment.