Drive Errors:
Hardware drivers are a common cause of errors and crashes, and if your PC experiences difficulties after you install a new piece of hardware or update a driver it's almost certainly a driver compatibility problem. If you suspect your PC is suffering from driver related problems, SAFE MODE should be your first port of call. This is because Safe Mode loads only those drivers that are known to be safe and that are required to boot your system. Once in Safe Mode, you can use the Device Manager to remove the offending device and uninstall the offending driver. You can then boot up as normal and reinstall a driver that you know works.
To do this:
go to Start
Control Panel
System/Hardware
Click Device Manager.
You'll see a list of the hardware installed on your system. Find the component that you think is causing the problem (Windows may put an exclamation mark next to it if it detects the cause). Double click on the offending device to see more details about it. If you like click the Troubleshoot button for online help that may help yah with your problem.
To remove the drive:
Click the Driver tab
Select Uninstall.
In Windows XP, Microsoft introduced an alternative means of dealing with troublesome driver updates. From the Driver tab, instead of selecting Uninstall, you can instead choose Roll Back Driver to revert to a stable alternative to the troublesome driver you just installed.
RollBack Drivers:
Make sure you are logged in as an administrator, then open Control Panel and double-click on the System icon. If you are not using the classic view, go to:
Performance and Maintenance and click System.
In the System Properties window click on the Hardware tab.
Click the Device Manager button and you will see a list of all the hardware on your system. Click the + symbol to see the devices, sorted into categories for easy reference. Right-click the device you are having problems with and select Properties.
You will now see the properties for the device, including information showing it's manufacturer and type. Click the Driver tab and you can see details about the current driver, including the date and version number. You can also see whether it is digitally signed.
Click the Driver Details button and you can see the individual files that make up the driver and whereabouts they are stored on the system. You can also see each file's version number - it isn't unusual for these not to match as sometimes only part of a driver gets updated.
Click Roll Back Driver and if an earlier version is available you will be asked if you are sure you want to revert back to it. Reply Yes and the system will replace the current driver with the previous version. You may need to reboot your system for the process to complete.
Once rebooted, you will see that the driver has reverted to an earlier one. You can update to new drivers from this screen too, although if the supplier recommends a different method of installation it's generally better to follow their approach.
Hardware drivers are a common cause of errors and crashes, and if your PC experiences difficulties after you install a new piece of hardware or update a driver it's almost certainly a driver compatibility problem. If you suspect your PC is suffering from driver related problems, SAFE MODE should be your first port of call. This is because Safe Mode loads only those drivers that are known to be safe and that are required to boot your system. Once in Safe Mode, you can use the Device Manager to remove the offending device and uninstall the offending driver. You can then boot up as normal and reinstall a driver that you know works.
To do this:
go to Start
Control Panel
System/Hardware
Click Device Manager.
You'll see a list of the hardware installed on your system. Find the component that you think is causing the problem (Windows may put an exclamation mark next to it if it detects the cause). Double click on the offending device to see more details about it. If you like click the Troubleshoot button for online help that may help yah with your problem.
To remove the drive:
Click the Driver tab
Select Uninstall.
In Windows XP, Microsoft introduced an alternative means of dealing with troublesome driver updates. From the Driver tab, instead of selecting Uninstall, you can instead choose Roll Back Driver to revert to a stable alternative to the troublesome driver you just installed.
RollBack Drivers:
Make sure you are logged in as an administrator, then open Control Panel and double-click on the System icon. If you are not using the classic view, go to:
Performance and Maintenance and click System.
In the System Properties window click on the Hardware tab.
Click the Device Manager button and you will see a list of all the hardware on your system. Click the + symbol to see the devices, sorted into categories for easy reference. Right-click the device you are having problems with and select Properties.
You will now see the properties for the device, including information showing it's manufacturer and type. Click the Driver tab and you can see details about the current driver, including the date and version number. You can also see whether it is digitally signed.
Click the Driver Details button and you can see the individual files that make up the driver and whereabouts they are stored on the system. You can also see each file's version number - it isn't unusual for these not to match as sometimes only part of a driver gets updated.
Click Roll Back Driver and if an earlier version is available you will be asked if you are sure you want to revert back to it. Reply Yes and the system will replace the current driver with the previous version. You may need to reboot your system for the process to complete.
Once rebooted, you will see that the driver has reverted to an earlier one. You can update to new drivers from this screen too, although if the supplier recommends a different method of installation it's generally better to follow their approach.
