Working with Device Drivers

| Jan 05, 2009 | Comments 6


If you’re going to troubleshoot hardware, you’ll certainly be working with device drivers in Windows’ Device Manager. In this video, we’ll discuss the importance of device drivers and interactively walk you through the installation, troubleshooting, and uninstall of device drivers in Windows XP.


Filed Under: CompTIA A+ Videos

Tags: •



  • Bryant Vasquez

    good afternoon professor messer,

    ive done an install of windows xp on my desktop…its a dual boot with ubuntu, ubuntu installed first. originally i had vista on it but it gave me a BSOD and the user did not have the original cd for vista. all works fine on ubuntu, however when i installed xp some of the drivers didnt work, one being the network adapter…how i would i get the device driver for it when all it says is Ethernet Controller under the device manager

    • http://www.ProfessorMesser.com Professor Messer

      Bryant -

      The best resource is the manufacturer of the computer, if it’s one that’s a name brand. If it was put together with third party parts, you’ll want to determine the manufacturer and model number of the motherboard and check the motherboard manufacturer’s site for drivers. Good luck!

  • LOLO

    Right before I took this course, I updated the drivers in my system as well. Now I know exactly what I did and how I did it.

  • Doug Borkman

    Hi, I was wondering if the driver update process is always best done through Device Manager, or if the “Manual Process” (of going to the manufacturer’s Web site and downloading that way) is better. I just tried to update the drivers of my three-year-old ATI video card from Device Manager, but it said no new drivers were available. I suppose that is true, but knowing what we both know about the frequency of driver updates being available, I don’t think that is likely. Is Device Manager really the best route?

    • http://www.ProfessorMesser.com Professor Messer

      Doug -

      In almost every case, downloading the latest drivers from the manufacturer site will always be the best way to ensure you’re getting the drivers and that they’re up-to-date.

  • Anselmo Diaz

    When is the best time to install the drivers? Before upgrading, or after?