If any of your computer devices are not functioning properly, you may want to try removing and reinstalling the hardware. This process was a bit more reliable in previous versions of Windows, but can still resolve some problems for XP users. You may also uncover the real root of the problem by doing this. For example, if the device will not reinstall, you are probably facing a hardware issue.

Follow these steps to safely remove and reinstall your computer’s devices:

* Right click on “My Computer” and select “Properties.”

* Open the “Hardware” tab.

* Click the “Device Manager” button.

* A Window will open displaying a list of device categories. Find the category that applies to the device in question and click the plus sign next to it.

* Select the device from the expanded category list. You can either right click on it and select “Uninstall,” or highlight the icon and press the delete key

* To add it again, click the button that features a computer screen with a magnifying glass. This will scan for new pieces of hardware and automatically reinstall the device you just removed.

If this process does not work, you may have a bad driver on your PC, or the hardware itself could be failing. Check online for the device’s latest driver, or contact the manufacturer’s support team for further assistance.

This is Jeremy checking in from BeYourOwnIT.com with a quick sort of emergency video. We actually had a couple requests for this the past couple days and so I wanted to quick get it up there as we have a new member to the site that is having a similar issue. So what I’m going to do today is show you how to uninstall and reinstall a hardware device using Windows XP. This is a good troubleshooting exercise that used to be a lot more effective in Windows 98, 95, and 2000. XP, it’s sort of hit or miss, but if you’re having weird problems with one of your hardware devices it’s always where I start. It can expose other issues. For example, if you uninstall it and it doesn’t reinstall, odds are it’s a hardware problem or something along those lines.

Let’s get started. To uninstall the device you need only right click on “My computer” and choose “Properties,” then choose the “Hardware” tab, and then “Device manager.” Now, this will list all of the devices on your computer categorically. So your disk drives, your display adapters.

I’m not sure if the screen capture is going to be able to read this, so that’s why I’ll try to explain what each one is. It goes all the way down. So, for example, if you were having problems with your sound card, you need to go to “Sound, video, and game controllers,” expand it by hitting the little plus sign, and then here inside this will be all of your sound devices. If you’re having problems with the network card do the same thing. Hit the little plus sign to expand it and it’ll show you the network card.

In order to remove the device, let’s use the floppy drive because I don’t use that anyway, all you need to do is click on it and either right click on the device and uninstall or use the delete key on your keyboard. So select the item you want to delete and hit the delete key. It’s going to say, “You’re about to uninstall this device.” Yes, fine, OK.

Now, to reinstall it you need only hit this little icon up here, “Scan for hardware changes.” It’s a little computer with a magnifying glass. You click that and the computer will reinstall that device. Now, I’m not going to do that because last time I just did it the computer rebooted on me and ruined my video. When you click that, it’ll reinstall the device automatically for you; and then see if it fixes your problem. If not, you likely have either a bad driver or some other issue, maybe the hardware’s going bad.

So if you have a bad sound card, I’d start here by reinstalling it. If you have a bad USB port, for example, I’d uninstall the USB ports and reinstall them. Always check for the latest drivers and stuff like that for your hardware issues, too.

So hope this helps you out and remember BeYourOwnIT.com for free tech support videos, free articles. We run a blog that we try to update a couple times a week. All tech related. So top by and make sure and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can also make requests for videos and we’ll get them up for you as soon as possible, typically within 12 hours.

So thanks for watching and hope you guys have a great day.