Installing
Dell Device Drivers
Although Dell manufactures some of the best computer hardware
in the industry, its products are still vulnerable to common
issues. Just as with any device, there may come a time when
your Dell hardware stops functioning and needs help getting
back on track. Thankfully, when hardware begins to experience
problems, solving them is often as easy as updating an outdated
device driver. For example, if your keyboard starts acting
up, it typically means there is problem with the corresponding
device driver. After updating or replacing the driver, the
keyboard will usually enjoy the normal functionality.
First Steps to Fixing the Dell
Problems
If you want to fix your hardware issues, the first thing
you should do is find the driver CD that came along with your
Dell computer. This disc should be labeled like “Dell
Drivers” or “Drivers and Utilities.” After
inserting the disc into your CD drive, a wizard should appear
and ask which drivers you want to install. If you know which
drivers are causing the problem, you can choose them from
the list of selections. If not, you will need to conduct an
investigation.
Investigating Which Drivers are
Awry
To find the device drivers stirring up all the chaos, open
the “Control Panel” and click “Device Manager.”
The Device Manager lists all the devices installed on your
computer. If you notice yellow markings by any of your devices,
this indicates a problem and that the device drivers need
to be replaced. Now that you have pinpointed the issue, navigate
back to the Dell Driver window, select the appropriate drivers
and restore them. Depending on the device, you may have to
install one or multiple drivers. For instance, if your motherboard
drivers become corrupt, you will be required to install numerous
components in order to completely restore the hardware.
Obtaining Drivers from Dell Directly
If you can’t find the driver installation CD, visit
the Dell Support website. The company does a good job at making
updated drivers and firmware available. In the device driver
download area, enter the model number for the device and operating
system on your computer. By doing so, you will better your
chances of getting the exact drivers you need. After finding
the appropriate drivers, download them to your computer. Most
downloads from Dell are self-launching files, meaning all
you have to do is click the icon and follow the installation
prompts. If not, the device drivers will have to be manually
installed from the Device Manager utility. From the Device
Manager, locate the device in question and right-click on
it. Choose the option that automatically browses your computer,
select the downloaded device drivers, and follow the prompts
for installing them.
If you take the route of downloading device drivers from
Dell, be sure to remember where they are saved on the hard
drive. By knowing where to look, you can save yourself tremendous
if they ever need to be reinstalled again. An easier way to
accomplish this would be saving the device drivers file in
a special folder or on storage media.
Introduction to ATI Drivers
A part of the AMD family, ATI Technologies is a company that
manufactures a wide range of computer hardware products, and
GPUs (graphical processing units) are its specialty. One of
the company’s most popular brands is ATI Radeon, a graphics
card that has been on the market for nearly a decade.
Since its inception, a variety of products have been released
for the ATI Raedon franchise. Like any hardware device, an
ATI Radeon graphics card needs a device driver in order to
function properly on the Windows operating system. As it relates
to Windows, an ATI Radeon GPU requires an ATI Catalyst, a
special driver package that exceeds the average device driver
by far.
Understanding the ATI Catalyst
Whereas most drivers are made up of small files and codes,
the ATI Catalyst is a complete program. It contains the drivers,
along with an interface known as the ATI Catalyst Control
Center that allows you to adjust graphics settings. Through
this interface, you can make a number of adjustments that
include tweaking 3D settings, monitor controls and video options.
Upon introducing ATI Catalyst, ATI made the commitment of
delivering monthly updates to implement new features, enhance
performance, and address known bugs. ATI Catalyst offers an
entirely different level of functionality by allowing you
to enjoy more control over your ATI Raedon hardware.
What You Can Control with ATI Catalyst
Aside from the settings mentioned above, the ATI Catalyst
Control Center also allows you to control the following:
• Hardware acceleration
• DTV support
• Multiple monitors
• Power settings
• VPU recovery
If you don’t require each and every feature, you have
the option of individually downloading the ATI Catalyst drivers
that best suit your needs. Thus, if you don’t need support
for HDTV, you can simply download the display driver instead
of the Catalyst Control Center and its robust features.
ATI Catalyst drivers support a plethora of ATI products, ranging
from desktop and mobile graphics cards to All-in-Wonder multimedia
cards and TV Wonder tuner cards. ATI catered to Vista with
the release of Catalyst 7.1, a certified driver specifically
designed to support the new Microsoft operating system. The
company also supports other operating systems with ATI Radeon
drivers for Mac OS X platforms. The Linux operating system
is supported with a special open-source series know as RadeonHD.
AMD released documentation in 2007 for the development of
more open-source drivers. While the specs are still in the
experimental stage, these ATI Radeon drivers are aimed to
support various chipsets, including the M56, M76 , RV630 and
RS690 series.
The ATI Catalyst software offers numerous advantages over
the standard device driver, mainly because it offers such
a greater level of control. Be that is it may, ATI Radeon
devices often need a little assistance to function at an optimal
level. For example, if the files are corrupt, you may be required
to reinstall the ATI Catalyst drivers or manually update them
yourself. In this case, you would need to visit the ATI website.
From there, you can choose your operating system and ATI Radeon
graphics card, and then you can download the appropriate drivers.
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