DEVICE DRIVER BASICS, 10-2010 PRESENTATION

During this Presentation we will cover:

Introduction to Device Drivers

Device Driver location

Installation

Phantom Devices

Conflicts

Updating

Roll back driver
videos

Introduction:
A device driver simplifies programming by acting as a translator between a hardware device and the applications or operating systems that use it.
Because of the diversity of modern hardware and operating systems, drivers operate in many different environments. Drivers may interface with:
printers
video adapters
network cards
Sound cards
low-bandwidth I/O buses of various sorts (for pointing devices such as mice, keyboards, USB, etc.)
computer storage devices such as hard disk, CD-ROM and floppy disk buses (ATA, SATA, SCSI)
image scanners
digital cameras



Device driver location:
Device Manager

Installation:
A device driver is typically installed when the installation CD for a new hardware device is used. The installation CD contains the device drivers as well as any additional software applications that are needed to use the new hardware device. A device driver will stay on the system until it is removed or uninstalled.


Phantom Devices: (http://www.petri.co.il/removing-old-drivers-from-vista-and-windows7)
Overtime you install drivers from external HD’s, phones, camera’s, wireless mouse/ keyboards etc. We sometimes only use a device once on our PC and never use it again. The driver stays on our Hard drive waiting to be used again, just incase. Sometimes that can cause a hardware conflict, maybe and old version of the driver conflicting with a reinstalled version of the driver. Petri has a directions if interested on removing this Phantom Drivers.
By default, Device Manager will only show you the devices it's currently using.
You will need configure Device Manager to show all those non-present device drivers
Petri.co.il screenshots and directions on how to configure, warning is there are instructions to editing the registry.

Conflicts:
Sometimes a device driver can conflict with other components on a system. The Device Manager in Windows can be used to see if there is any sort of conflict with an installed device. Conflicts can usually be resolved by repairing corrupt files or removing a device and attempting to reinstall it on the system.

Example









Updating:
There are a few ways you can update your drivers. One would be to go to the manufactures site and download an update. Another would be to install updates to your OS. Lastly, by running the setup program from a device's installation CD.

To roll back a driver:
If you're using a piece of hardware for the first time or if you're suddenly having problems with a trusty piece of hardware, the first step you may want to take is to update your drivers. This means replacing your old driver with a new one. Unfortunately, an updated driver may not fix the problem and, in some cases, it may do more harm than good.

However, each time you update a driver, Windows XP automatically saves a copy of the previous driver on your computer. If you think a recent driver update may be making your computer unstable, you can use the Driver Rollback feature to get rid of the new driver and replace it with the last one that worked. Driver Rollback permits only one level of rollback (only one prior driver version can be saved at a time); this feature is available for all device classes, except printers.

Log on as Administrator.
Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.
Navigate to the driver you wish to roll back, right click the name of the driver and choose Properties, as shown in Figure 1 below.

Choosing a driver to roll back
Click the Driver tab and then click Roll Back Driver, as shown in Figure 2 below.