First Aid for Troubleshooting Hardware

Whenever you have a hardware problem that’s causing a device to misbehave or just not work at all, finding an updated driver is usually your best bet. But even before you do that, you might want to try Windows’ built-in troubleshooting tools to see if they can resolve the problem.

To get help on programs, hardware, and drivers, open the Troubleshooting applet from the Control Panel (see Figure 48.1). Once you have Control Panel open, click the System And Security category. Under Action Center, click Troubleshoot Common Computer Problems. Each of the items in this Control Panel applet provides a troubleshooting wizard that can automatically search for, detect, and potentially fix problems. The applet offers the following groups:

FIGURE 48.1 The Troubleshooting applet provides options for troubleshooting hardware and driver issues

• Programs: Launch the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter, which enables you to apply settings to programs to make them run as if they were running in an earlier version of Windows. For example, you can potentially run a Windows XP program under Windows 8 by configuring its compatibility settings for Windows XP. This troubleshooting group also provides help for Internet Explorer issues, printer issues, and Media Player problems.
• Hardware And Sound: Use the Hardware And Sound item to scan for hardware changes and troubleshoot problems with general devices, printers, network adapters, and audio devices.
• Network And Internet: Troubleshoot problems connecting to the Internet or accessing shared files and folders on a local area network. Also troubleshoot Homegroup, incoming network connections, and DirectAccess.
• System And Security: Troubleshoot problems with Windows Update, modify power settings, check for computer performance issues, and run maintenance tasks, including cleaning up unused files and shortcuts. Also, check search and indexing problems, and adjust performance settings.

The Troubleshooting applet lists only some of the items for each category. Click the group name (such as Hardware And Sound or Network And Internet) to see all of the troubleshooting tools for that category. Figure 48.2, for example, shows the System And Security category.

FIGURE 48.2 The System And Security category

An alternative is to troubleshoot from the hardware device’s Properties dialog box in Device Manager. To open Device Manager, press Windows+X and click Device Manager. If you are on the Start screen, simply start typing dev, click Settings, and then click Device Manger. You also can show the Charms Bar, type dev, click Settings, and click Device Manager. In Device Manager:

1. Right-click the name of the device that’s causing problems and choose Properties.

2. If the device shows an error in the Device Manager (see Figure 48.3), use that information to begin troubleshooting. For example, if Device Manager indicates that there is no driver installed, try installing or reinstalling the device’s driver.

FIGURE 48.3 Use Device Manager to help troubleshoot hardware problems

3. If needed, use the options on the Driver tab to reinstall the drivers for the device. You can also disable the device from this tab and eliminate potential conflicts with other devices.

4. On the Resources tab (see Figure 48.4), check for a conflict message under Conflicting Device List and resolve problems by reassigning resources to the conflicting devices, or by disabling one of them. Note that not all hardware devices will have a Resources tab.

FIGURE 48.4 The Resources tab

Tip

If you’ve made a hardware change but Windows hasn’t noticed the change, open Device Manager and choose Action Scan For Hardware Changes to have Windows rescan the system.

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