If Something Goes Wrong

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Resolving a hardware conflict

Checking device properties

Device Manager provides a way to view the properties of a device. Properties include the name of the manufacturer, the type of device, the drivers installed, and the system resources assigned to the device.

To check a device’s properties:

1Click Start, Control Panel, System and Maintenance, System, and then Device Manager.

2To view the device(s) installed, double-click the device type.

3To view the properties, double-click the device.

The operating system displays the Device Properties dialog box, which provides an array of tabs. They may include:

❖The General tab, which provides basic information about the device.

❖The Resources tab, which lists resources assigned to the monitor, optional external optical drive, optional external diskette drive, and other power-using functions. This tab does not appear if the device is not using resources.

❖The Driver tab, which displays the drivers being used by the device. This tab also provides options for updating the driver or rolling back the driver in case the new version is causing a problem.

The tabs that appear in the dialog box vary from one device to another.

For more information about Device Manager, refer to Windows® online Help.

Memory problems

Incorrectly connected or faulty memory modules may cause errors that seem to be hardware or even software related. It is worthwhile checking for these first:

1Click Start, and then click the arrow next to the Lock button in the lower-right part of the Start menu.

The Shut Down menu appears.

2Click Shut Down.

The computer shuts down completely.

3Remove the memory module, following the instructions in “Removing a memory module” on page 51.