A device driver is a small program or code that comes packaged with most computer hardware. Your graphics card, sound card, monitor, modem, Ethernet card, CD-ROM, DVD ROM and many other pieces of hardware have device drivers. These device drivers translate data between the operating system and the hardware. Microsoft does not make these drivers, unless, of course, Microsoft made the hardware.

If there is a problem with your drivers then the particular piece of hardware may not work, or have limited functionality. Some device driver errors could show up while your computer is booting.  If you get the error while your computer is booting you will usually see the name of the file that is involved in the error. The filename is not a good indication of which piece of hardware it involves. After booting you can find out by right clicking My Computer and choosing properties. Then choose Device Manager. Depending on your operating system, the menu could be in a few different places.

Your Device Manager shows a list of hardware that is in your computer. If you are experiencing hardware problems then it will show you information regarding the problem here. If you see an informational icon, or a red icon beside a certain piece of hardware then that could be where you are experiencing problems. Double click this piece of hardware and read what error it discusses. You can then search at the hardware manufacturerÕs website for a driver update, or if you are using Vista, it can search online for you with just the click of a button. If you are using Dell computer you can go to DellÕs website and search for device drivers there.

If the device driver that came with your computer was working and now suddenly quit, you can either restore your computer back to a previous day when your not getting any errors, or get out those CDs that came with your computer. They have the device drivers that were originally loaded on your computer. You can put the correct CD into your CDROM and the update your device driver.

Once you have found your new device driver you can go back to the Device Manager and choose to update the device driver. After updating your device driver the icon beside it in the Device Manager should go away and be replaced with the normal icon. You should not get any more errors and your computer and hardware should work smoothly now.