Solving Problems 69
A driver acts like a translator between the device and any other programs that use the device.
Eachdevice has its own set of specialized commands that only its driver recognizes.
Dell ships your computer to you with required drivers already installed—no further installation or
configuration is needed.
NOTE: Any third party product used with your Dell computer may require an updated driver from the
third party manufacturer.
NOTICE: Ensure that you are installing software appropriate for your operating system.
Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with your Microsoft
®
Windows
®
operating
system. You may need to install drivers if you:
• Upgrade your operating system.
• Reinstall your operating system.
• Connect or install a new device.
Identifying Drivers
If you experience a problem with any device, identify whether the driver is the source of your
problem and, if necessary, update the driver.
1
Click the
Start
button and click
Control Panel
.
2
Under
Pick a Category
, click
Performance and Maintenance
.
3
Click
System
.
4
In the
System Properties
window, click the
Hardware
tab.
5
Click
Device Manager
.
6
Scroll down the list to see if any device has an exclamation point (a yellow circle with a [
!]
) on
the device icon.
If an exclamation point is next to the device name, you may need to reinstall the driver or
install a new driver, see the following section, "Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities."
Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities
Using Windows XP Device Driver Rollback
If a problem occurs on your computer after you install or update a driver, use Windows XP Device
Driver Rollback to replace the driver with the previously installed version.
1
Click the
Start
button and click
Control Panel
.
2
Under
Pick a Category
, click
Performance and Maintenance
.
3
Click
System
.
4
In the
System Properties
window, click the
Hardware
tab.
5
Click
Device Manager
.