108 TroubleshootingDriversWhat Is a Driver?A driver is a program that controls a device such as a printer, mouse, or keyboard. All devices require adriver program.A driver acts like a translator between the device and any other programs that use the device. Each devicehas 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 orconfiguration is needed.NOTICE: The Drivers and Utilities CD may contain drivers for operating systems that are not on your computer.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. Youmay need to install drivers if you:• Upgrade your operating system.• Reinstall your operating system.• Connect or install a new device.Identifying DriversIf you experience a problem with any device, identify whether the driver is the source of your problemand, 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 thedevice icon.If an exclamation point is next to the device name, you may need to reinstall the driver or install a newdriver. See "Reinstalling Drivers and Utilities" on page 108.Reinstalling Drivers and UtilitiesNOTICE: The Dell Support website at support.dell.com and your Drivers and Utilities CD provide approved driversfor Dell™ computers. If you install drivers obtained from other sources, your computer might not work correctly.NOTE: The Drivers and Utilities CD is optional and may not ship with your computer.PD598a01.book Page 108 Monday, February 6, 2006 2:24 PM
