Patent ID: 7146542

Claim:
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 wherein the hardware repair further comprises the steps of: determining hardware tests available for the device; peforming an available hardware test, and if the test indicates a repair procedure may be possible, initiating an attempt to repair the device by carrying out the indicated repair procedure; 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.