Error Code 10

What is Error Code 10?

Error Code 10 tells you that ‘This device cannot start (Code 10)’.

On machines powered by Windows XP, it is the default error code message that your PCs Device Manager generates when your operating system is unable to ascertain exactly which specific error code to return after a problem or malfunction occurs.

As an example, you may see an Error Code 10 message when a hardware device that is installed on your machine is incorrectly accessed by a software program, or indeed by the machine user.

The Code 10 error message is most commonly associated with hardware problems and issues, and in particular with incompatibility problems between hardware and software programs that are installed on your PC.

For example, if a particular hardware device or piece of software is incorrectly configured, then an Error Code 10 message will most likely be displayed.

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Typical Error Code 10 issues

Because most Error Code 10 problems are caused by incompatibility, the first thing that you should do is troubleshoot your machine to see whether you have incompatible, corrupted or outdated device drivers.

Work through every hardware device on your machine in turn, and make sure that you have the latest drivers installed.  Go online as necessary to download the latest updates and install them appropriately.

In the majority of cases, Error Code 10 problems are more often than not caused by faulty or damaged drivers, so downloading and installing all the latest versions will most probably solve the problem.

If, however, this is not successful, then you should begin to suspect that you have a device configuration problem.

Open up your computers Device Manager (Right-click My Computer, click Manage, and then Device Manager) and make sure that the hardware device that you suspect is enabled.

If it is and you still have a problem, then you should ensure that the device is enabled in your computer’s BIOS.  To learn how to do this, you would need to refer to your PCs system documentation or go online to your machines manufacturers website, to see whether the information that you need is available there.

You could try disabling the advanced features for the particular device in question, and once again you would do this using the Device Manager. Adjusting the configuration settings for the device may also work if you still believe that the problem has a device malfunction at its root.

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Other possible solutions.

If you suspect that missing software updates or operating system service packs may be at the root of your problems, then you need to go online and download any updates that you can find.

Make sure that these are appropriate to the machine that you are using by once again checking the manufacturers website.

Is it possible that a particular hardware component that you are trying to work with is not compatible with the Windows operating system that you are running?

If you are not sure, then you can check the Windows Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) from the Microsoft website. This will indicate whether a particular device that you are trying to utilize is designed to work with the operating system of your machine

If you have the appropriate software, you should also try running scans for computer viruses or spyware.  Although these are not likely to be the root cause of an Error Code 10 malfunction, you should nevertheless run a scan to check as doing so will enable you to cross one more possibility off your list.

Far more likely is the possibility that the registry of your operating system has somehow become damaged or corrupted in some way, as this is another relatively common cause of Error Code 10 messages.

Again, if you have the appropriate software you should use it to check your machine, as this will locate and isolate any registry problems that you have.  And, of course, once you have scanned your machine for registry errors, you should use the software to repair them.

This will again allow you to check off another possible cause of Error Code 10 from your list.

If, however, you do not have appropriate registry repair software already installed on your machine, then you should least take advantage of a free online scan offered from a site like SpeedyPC so that you can at least establish exactly what problems your registry is currently suffering.

Once you have established this, you can then decide whether you should download and install the software in order to repair the problems that you have found.

Clearly, however, if a registry malfunction is the cause of your Error Code 10 message, then it would obviously make sense to do so.