Welcome to part 4 of Be Your Own IT's series on troubleshooting your PC's hardware issues. In previous installments, we have so far examined how to get started off on the right track with your hardware issue, how to troubleshoot a brand new device that has never been used in your computer system before, and how to trouble

shoot a new device that has been installed to replace an old device of the same make and model. In this installment, we will cover the third type of scenario you may experience: when a device has suddenly stopped working, though you have made no changes to that particular device or your computer system's hardware in general.

When a device that was working fine before suddenly stops working fine, it can be very frustrating. The process for troubleshooting this type of issue differs from the process for new devices and replacement devices, though some of the steps are the same. You should still first check for any new or updated drivers on the device manufacturer's website. If any are available, download them and install them to see if that corrects the problem. If not, check for conflicts with your devices in the Device Manager. Sometimes, these can crop up suddenly even if all of your devices were previously working correctly before.

If neither of these solutions correct your problem, then you need to try removing the driver that is currently there and reinstalling it. To find out how to remove a driver correctly if you are not sure how to do it, please see the Be Your Own IT article on that process. Once it is gone, then try reinstalling the driver that came with the device. For in depth instructions on how to install a driver from a disk, please see the article on that process! Then reboot the computer and check for device conflicts again.

If that does not correct the problem, then proceed to Part 5 of this article series on troubleshooting your PC's hardware issues.