There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to determine what’s causing your computer hardware or software problem. You may have had a setup that was working perfectly, and suddenly, you start having problems. You may be trying to connect a new piece of hardware and although you’ve followed the installation instructions perfectly, the hardware still won’t work.

When To Suspect Driver Problems

Many things can be at the root of your troubles, but one thing you should always consider is the possibility of a driver problem. Driver problems can crop up instantly if the driver you’re using is corrupted, or becomes outdated after you’ve installed an update to the OS.

If you’ve attached a new piece of hardware, detach it and restart your computer. If everything works fine, you’re probably looking at a driver issue related to your new hardware. In this case, look for an updated driver from the manufacturer. Driver Detective will also locate, download and install the correct drivers for all of your attached hardware. Also consult the device’s manufacturer for information on known conflicts, and resolutions. If your new hardware conflicts with other devices already attached to your computer, the manufacturer or a third-party may have a workaround available.

Windows also keeps track of its last known working configuration, so you can always revert to the configuration your computer had prior to the installation of your new hardware. You may have to “back out” of an installation until you can determine what caused your problem and how you can solve it.

If reverting to the last known good configuration doesn’t help, you may have all the right drivers, but something has been corrupted or deleted. In this case you may need to locate the corrupted files or determine whether something important was accidentally erased and reload fresh copies of the corrupted or deleted materials.

For deleted and corrupted files, Driver Detective can help in two ways: first, it can determine that you’re missing necessary files (either because they’ve been deleted or your existing files are corrupted) and second, it can locate and reload fresh copies of your drivers. It saves you the trouble of having to locate drivers, and determine which drivers your computer hardware needs. It also saves you the trouble of working with a driver that was erroneously selected by Windows when it recognizes new hardware.

Photo Credit: Adrian Black