Everyone dreads the day something on their computer stops working like it should. The easy thing to do is take your computer to a shop and get it fixed, but we all cannot afford that, I'll help you fix yours or help you decide what you need to do to get it fixed.
First it's important to understand about some things with your computer. The devices I'm talking about are the objects hooked to your computer like a drive, modem or monitor. They are available on the device manager of the hardware manager screen. Right click on my computer icon, click on properties at the bottom and in the pop up screen you will see the hardware tab along the top. Click it and click on device manager at the top portion of the screen.
You can also access the device manager from the control panel, click on start, then control panel, then double click the system icon and then click the device manager button.
A list of all the devices that are hooked up to your computer are there. At the top of this under the view pull down is a list of the different ways to view this information. Look down the list to see any little symbols on each device.
A red X across the device symbol means the device has been disabled by windows or a user.
A yellow triangle with a ! or exclamation point means the device is having a problem, the driver is usually the problem.
A driver is not to be confused with a drive, a drive is like the hard drives or CD drives of your computer that store information. Drivers are small programs that run the various components of your computer that are hooked up to it. Almost every component of your computer has a separate driver that runs it. These driver programs are installed when your computer is built and when it is all complete. These programs tell each device what to do and is an important part of your computer. Just like any program, information in the program can get messed up and ruined. This is when a device driver fails, and you will get an error on your device manager with a code behind the message on the device status window of the device manager. This code can help you determine what is wrong with the device, you can go here at Microsoft to see what the codes mean: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prjk_dec_lgsc.asp
There is also help information to try to help you troubleshoot the exact code of what is failing and a possible solution. If you are redirected to go somewhere else it may also be helpful to keep a record of this list, try printing it out and keeping a copy for later use. I have a folder of all things like this, and any papers I print out of things I have a problem with on my computer and the solutions that fixed them. This way if it ever happens again I have a copy of what I did to fix it.
Many times just restarting the computer can have an effect on the drivers, if you have not tried this it is the first thing you should try. Just reboot your computer and see if the problem goes away. This can often clear out the thing that can be having a problem and make it go away.
If a device is not getting power it will not be communicating to your computer so it is important to ensure the power cord is hooked up to any devices that are external like printers, scanners and external drives. Also ensure the power is turned on and there are some kinds of lights on the device, if any.
If a device isn't working and there is a red X through it, try right clicking the device, it should come up with a menu that has install on it. Click this and wait to see if your computer hooks up the device.
If there is an exclamation point there, the driver may be at fault, first you should try just un-installing the device and restarting your computer. The computers automatic find hardware program will start and the device will try to be hooked up and installed from Windows. Just uninstall the device with a right click and click on the uninstall. Then shut down your computer and restart. It should come up with the found new hardware program and go through a setup of the device.
If this doesn't work you may have to reinstall a new driver, the driver may have become corrupted and needs to be removed and reinstalled. The easiest way to do this is from the system restore, on your Help and Support menu you should have a system restore, try restoring your computer to an earlier time by following the instructions on the screen of the system restore. You will be restoring your computer to an earlier setup but you will not loose anything you have created or added to files and programs like pictures or documents that are new. This will only restore settings like your desktop background, device driver settings, and some others. It will not delete anything. It might go to a time that a program was not installed if you recently installed something. You may have to reinstall any new programs.
This should fix your problem, if not you can try inserting any driver recovery disks that came with your computer and following the instructions on it. You should have a disk for system recovery, and one for driver restore. Try the driver restore and see if that works. If the driver for a hard drive is the one giving you problems go to the website of your computer manufacturer to download the driver from them or a third party that has drivers for your drive. Just search for the model of your drive and put driver after it.
If the device is still giving you problem it may be time to consider replacement, but first there are some things to consider, how old is the device. Is it under warranty or guaranty. Get out the receipt and any papers on it to see. If it is a couple of years old, it may be getting to a ripe old age. Also consider how much you use it, if you use a drive or printer a lot and it gets plenty of exercise, it may be beyond it's prime. If it's a brand new device, it may not be setup correctly or be defective from the start. Ask where you purchased it about it's setup and see if they can test it or return it for a new one. Devices are not always tested to make sure everyone that a company makes works, they just make so many and test one every so often to ensure the process is working, not every single unit the company makes is. Every once in awhile one can slip through that is defective and you may get stuck with it. This happens and is the reason for a return policy and warranty.
One thing you should do to make sure you are not having this problem alone is check your computer manufacturer and see if they have others having this same problem, many manufacturers have forums and chats that you can sign up on to see if anybody else can help you with the same thing. Check their support section to see if they have a forum to ask about your particular problem. One good group that is quite a help with many problems related to Windows and general computer problems is annoyances.org available here: http://www.annoyances.org/
They have a lot of people dedicated to helping people with their computer problems and many things that are just annoying on their computer.
There are other sites like Windows newsgroups that is a forum for windows related problems and are available here: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx
They will help with Windows related problems and you can get answers from Microsoft technicians as well as people who are trying to help anyone with their problems.
Sometimes when things go wrong we can get frustrated and not think clearly so while troubleshooting and trying to get things working again it's important to ask ourselves if we are going about it logically and thoroughly. Start at the beginning and work through the problem to rule out everything that can be wrong with it, don't assume that power cord is getting power and make sure the power switch is on. Many times it's the simple things that go wrong and are the easiest to fix.
