Common PC problems and how to fix them: Peripherals – DIY in 5 Ep 208

Опубликовано 8 октября 2023, 13:00

Printers, mice, webcams… when computer peripherals don’t behave the way they should, it’s incredibly frustrating. In this part of our series on common PC problems, DIY in 5 troubleshoots common issues with peripherals.
A peripheral is a device which connects to your computer to enhance its functionality. Keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, speakers and webcams are all examples. If they go wrong, the first step is gathering clues as to what’s going wrong. Is the device not detected by your computer? Or detected but not responding? Behaving erratically? Does it occur with one specific device, one specific port, or multiple devices and ports? Does it work if you start your OS in safe mode?

Running updates
First, check all the drivers are up to date. Drivers are programs enabling communication between peripherals and your computer. If drivers are outdated, corrupted, or incompatible, peripheral problems can occur. Windows’ device manager, or macOS’ system preferences can update drivers. You can also try rolling back a recent driver update for your peripheral, if the problem began after a recent driver or firmware update. It’s possible that the update is causing a conflict with something you already have. Same goes for peripheral-specific software. In these cases, it’s usually best to remove the peripheral from the list of devices and any affiliated software, reboot, and add everything back in like a new device setup.

USB
If it’s just one USB peripheral that’s giving you a headache, try plugging it into a different port (or different computer altogether). If the peripheral works somewhere else, it may be an issue of conflicting USB standards. Some devices will only work on newer USB standards, so you’ll need to find the correct port on your PC, such as USB 3.1 vs. USB 2.0. If the problem is more with the port than the peripheral, clean it using tweezers, a toothpick, or compressed air, and see if that helps. If not, it’s possible the port could be faulty, but let’s try other solutions first.

Wireless
If the device uses a wireless connection, like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, make sure the device is paired and synced with your computer, and that the battery level is good to go. If the device has a reset button, you can try resetting the connection that way, or you can unplug the wireless USB receiver for a count of 10-Mississippi then reconnect. Sometimes resetting this connection will force your device to pick a new frequency, eliminating interference issues.

Conclusion
If nothing else works for your peripheral problem, you can try cleaning the peripheral itself, if possible. Keyboards and mice can get pretty gunked up with daily use. Their sensors may have gotten blocked. The last resort is to replace the hardware.
If you’ve found any fixes not mentioned in today’s video, feel free to shout ‘em out in the comments!

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Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
0:55 Peripherals
1:30 Running Updates
2:11 USB
2:54 Wireless
3:32 Conclusion