Method and apparatus for diagnosis and repair of computer devices and device drivers

• US 20040123188A1
• Filed: 12/20/2002
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Karamadai, Tripp, Thomas M., Gill, Rajpal
• Granted Patent: US 7,146,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

A method and apparatus for diagnosing and repairing hardware and software problems relating to computer peripheral devices and their software drivers. The method and apparatus enumerate the devices, identify devices having errors, detect replacement software drivers and then un-install possibly defective software drivers so that they may be replaced automatically by the operating system, run hardware tests and attempt repairs on hardware devices.

Claims

1. A method for diagnosing and repairing devices connected to a computer and interfaced to the computer by each device'"'"'s driver software, comprising the steps of:

enumerating the devices connected to the computer;

detecting whether any device has an error;

selecting the type of repair to perform on a device from a software repair directed to the device'"'"'s driver or a hardware repair of the device itself or its connections; and

attempting to perform the selected repair.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the software repair further comprises:

determining if a new driver is available for a device; and

if so, uninstalling any existing driver for the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the software repair further comprises:

determining if a new driver is available or a device; and

if so, replacing any existing driver with the new driver for the device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the hardware repair further comprises:

selecting a hardware test to perform;

performing the selected hardware test; and

if the test results indicate a repairable hardware problem may exist, attempting to correct the hardware problem.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the types of repair further include contacting a support specialist and providing the specialist with information concerning the drivers and the errors.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of

after performing a selected repair, repeatedly performing the detecting and selecting steps, as needed, until there are no more devices remaining having errors that may be repairable in this manner.

7. A method for diagnosing and repairing devices connected to a computer and interfaced to the computer by each device'"'"'s driver software, comprising the steps of:

enumerating the devices connected to a user'"'"'s system, and testing at least some of the enumerated devices for errors;

if errors are found, attempting to repair at least some of the devices for which an error has been found by running a software repair on the device'"'"'s driver software, and then re-testing the devices subjected to the software repair; and

if errors are still found, attempting to repair at least some of the devices for which an error has still been found by running a hardware repair on the devices.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the running of a software repair further comprises the steps of:

determining if a new driver is available;

if a new driver is available, removing any existing driver for the device.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the running of a software repair further comprises the steps of:

determining if a new driver is available;

if a new driver is available, replacing any existing driver with a new driver for the device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the hardware repair further comprises the steps of:

determining hardware tests available for the device;

performing an available hardware test, and if the test indicates a repair may be possible, attempting to repair the device by carrying out the repair;

marking the hardware test performed as unavailable; and

if the device error has not been corrected and if other possible hardware repair procedures remain to be tried, then restarting the hardware repair.

11. The method of claim 7 to which is added the following step:

after running the hardware repair, if one or more devices are still reporting errors, contacting a support specialist and providing the specialist with information concerning the devices and the errors.

12. An apparatus for diagnosing and repairing devices installed within or attached to a user'"'"'s computer system and also driver software for such devices, comprising:

the user'"'"'s computer system having an operating system;

at least one device connected to the user'"'"'s computer system and interfaced to the operating system by device driver software to convey information between the device and the operating system;

a device repair system connected to the user'"'"'s computer system, the device repair system comprising;

an error detector arranged to detect errors relating to the devices and their driver software,

a software repairer arranged to repair device driver software,

a hardware repairer arranged to repair the devices, and

a user interface enabling a use of the user'"'"'s system to control and direct the error detection and repair process.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the error detector comprises:

a device enumerator that identifies all devices connected to the user'"'"'s computer system; and

a device tester that determines whether any given device is working properly or improperly.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the software repairer comprises:

an error code table containing information about device-related error codes which is obtainable from the operating system;

a driver detector that determines whether new device driver software for a device is available; and

an uninstaller that uninstalls the device driver software for a device associated with at least one error, thereby enabling the operating system to install a new driver for the device located by the driver detector.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the software repairer comprises:

an error code table containing information about device-related error codes which is obtainable from the operating system;

a driver detector that determines whether new device driver software for a device is available; and

an uninstaller that uninstalls the device driver software for a device associated with at least one error and installs the new driver located by the driver detector for the device.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the hardware repairer further comprises:

hardware tests enabling the testing of devices to determine their problems and whether they may be repairable.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

a specialist connector that transfers relevant information concerning drivers and driver software to a support specialist and also places the user in contact with the specialist for assistance.

18. A device and device driver software repairer, comprising:

enumerator means for identifying the devices connected to a computer system;

device tester means for identifying device errors by determining if devices are working properly;

software repairer means for correcting software device driver errors; and

hardware repairer means for correcting hardware device errors.

19. A repairer in accordance with claim 18, wherein the software repairer means further comprises:

driver detector means for determining if a new driver for a device is available; and

un-installer means for uninstalling a device'"'"'s software driver.

20. A repairer in accordance with claim 18, wherein the software repairer means further comprises:

driver detector means for determining if a new driver for a device is available; and

un-installer means for uninstalling a device'"'"'s software driver and replacing it with an available new driver.

21. A repairer in accordance with claim 18 which further comprises:

specialist connector means for communicating with a support specialist.