Your PC
has a number of hardware components that need to communicate with each other
and with the programs you're using. This can get tricky, simply because there
are quite a few components that make up a computer. Some of these components
may perform similar tasks at any given time, which means that the system needs
to be able to distinguish between them and to activate the correct piece of
hardware at the correct time.
Others may work
in conjunction with each other and need to be able to communicate properly with
one another. All this is managed through driver files that are written
specifically for your operating system, much like a multilingual dictionary,
which allows the operating system to act as a translator and a mediator for
your hardware.
While it may
sound simple enough, bear in mind that a single piece of hardware may be used
on a system that is running one of many operating systems, and could have
literally any configuration. Hardware manufacturers write drivers for as many
operating systems as they can, and as quickly as they can, which means that
there is always room for improvement in the coding of a driver.
It also means
that errors can occur and that a driver may not be compatible with a certain
arrangement of hardware or software. In short, it's worth knowing how to check
and update your drivers.
For most people,
the first time they will come across the concept of a driver is when they buy a
new piece of hardware and are prompted to install the drivers. Sometimes
windows has its own set of drivers for the hardware, and separate disks are not
required. Other times, if a better driver can't be found, windows comes with a
standard driver. However, neither option is ideal, partly because the driver
windows has for your hardware, may not be the most recent one and will probably
not be ideal for your hardware.
Even worse, the
windows driver may be thoroughly incompatible with your hardware. In most
cases, you will want to install at least the drivers that came with the
hardware, but even here you may discover incompatibilities. The good news is
that there are a number of ways in which to combat these problems.
The Right Tools
The first thing
you need to do is ensure that you are using the correct drivers for your
hardware. Check and confirm this by browsing through the device manager and
check the properties of all your hardware. All the components that make up your
system should be listed. Double click on any particular component to check
whether or not it is functioning properly, or whether or not it is in conflict
with another device.
You can also
check which drivers are being used and confirm whether or not they match your
hardware. You can also check the resources the device is using. The driver file
itself usually determines these settings, although they can be tweaked to
eliminate incompatibilities with other hardware. Sometimes these settings need
to match certain jumper configurations, so it's a good idea to refer to the
manual that came with the hardware to ensure that these settings are
appropriate for your particular configuration. You may even discover that you
can squeeze better performance from a device �
even if it seems to be working properly �
by tweaking driver settings.
Remove and
Install
If you're
struggling to get a device driver to function properly, and you have tried
tweaking its resource settings to avoid conflicts, try removing the driver and
reinstalling it. In some cases the hardware vendor might provide you with an
executable file that performs the installation automatically. More often than
not, you have to perform the installation manually.
If you have
removed the device from the device manager, you may want to try using the
hardware installation wizard in the control panel, under add new hardware. When
the wizard detects your hardware, use the have disk option to browse for the
driver files on the disk supplied by your hardware vendor.
Once those have
been located, the hardware will be installed and you can restart your computer to
check that it's functional. It's a good idea to remove all the hardware listed
in the device manager, and to reinstall each device after a reboot. This way,
windows gets the chance to iron out any potential incompatibilities.
If you are still
experiencing problems, you need to find out if there are any known
incompatibilities with your hardware combination, or whether or not there are
any bugs in your driver software.
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