PC Troubleshooting Basics - Part 2, Device Manager

One of the first things to check if a piece of hardware is not functioning is the Device Manager. I will show how how you can check this and how to update drivers if necessary. Windows lists most of your hardware in the Device Manager and will usually tell you if the device functioning or if it's even recognize it's there.



Step 1. Click on the Start button and then got to Control Panel.





Step 2. Another window will open to your Control Panel. Go to the icon that says System and click on that one.


Step 3. Your System Properties window will open. Then you want to go to the Hardware tab and click on that one.


Step 4. Your Device Manager window will open. It will show you most of the hardware devices in your computer. Printers are listed separately thats why you don't see them there. Hardware will be listed by category. To open a category you by clicking on the "+" symbol, this will list individual hardware items separately .


Step 5. Double-click on an item and it's properties window will open up. It will tell you the device status and whether it is functioning or not.

Step 6. To check if the proper drivers are installed click on the Drivers tab, which will give you some more options. You can check on driver details , update your driver, roll back your driver to a previous version, or uninstall the driver.



Step 7. If you wish update your driver you click on the Update Driver button and it will open up the Hardware Update Wizard. Here you'll be able to update your driver if necessary. You can either have Windows look for it automatically(First choice) or install it manually(Second choice) by pointing to a specific file,folder, CD etc.

Well we found out how to check on your hardware to see if it's working properly and how to update your drivers if necessary. Thanks for coming by and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave one here or contact me by email. See you next time.