2 Ways to Overcome Base System Devices in Windows

 Is that weird “Base System Device” entry giving you a warning in your Device Manager? Don't worry, here's how to easily fix the base system device.

If you just visited Device Manager and found something called “Base System Device” that is giving you a warning, you might not know what it is. However, before you start fiddling with Device Manager, it's a good idea to explore what this mysterious device is and why it's there.

So, what is “Base System Device”, and how do I fix the warning it gives you in Device Manager?

What is a Base System Device?

Base System Devices

Base System Device is a hardware component that is connected to a PC. For example, it could be a motherboard chipset, Bluetooth transmitter, or SD card reader.

The reason it appears as “Base System Device” is because your system cannot interact properly with the device. This is usually because the computer doesn't have official device drivers to work with.

The Base System Device that appears in your Device Manager usually has a little yellow exclamation mark and is usually categorized as Other devices.

How to Determine the Base System Device

Before you repair your PC to identify the mysterious Base System Device, you need to determine what device your computer is trying to recognize. In most cases, it's the chipset, Bluetooth, or SD card reader. Sometimes, installing a virtual machine on the PC can also cause this problem.

However, if you think none of those are the root cause of the problem, you should find the hardware ID. That way, you can then match the ID to the product and identify which device is giving your computer the problem.

To do this, double-click on Base System Device and switch to the Details tab in the Properties window. Click on the drop-down list under the Property heading and select Hardware Ids.

Hardware Ids

???Record Vendor ID and Dev ID. Vendor ID is 4 letters after VEN_ and Dev ID is 4 letters after DEV_. In our example above, the Vendor ID is 8086, and the Dev ID is 1911.

By now, you should check these numbers on a website like PCI Lookup. Click submit after entering both IDs and it will look up the IDs to see if it can find the device.

PCI Lookup

In admin's case, it's the chipset, but it could be different in your case. Once you know which device is causing the problem, you can fix it.

How to Overcome Base System Devices in Device Manager

You can usually fix the Base System Device error by installing the appropriate device driver. This then gives your PC something to work on and allows it to communicate with the right devices.

1. Install Drivers Manually From Manufacturer's Website

First method you have to download the correct driver from the device manufacturer. You can ask Windows to find drivers, but most likely this error is happening because Windows failed to find anything to download.

If you don't have the original driver disk for your device, try searching online for the device name or manufacturer. Then, go to the manufacturer's website and download the relevant drivers. For example, if you want to install drivers for an Intel-based chipset, you can use Intel's Chipset Installation Utility.

Once you have found the appropriate driver, right click on Base System Device from Device Manager and select Update driver. On the following screen, select Browse my computer for drivers and navigate to the folder where you saved the driver files. Select the driver and complete the steps for installation.

Manual Update Drivers

2. Let Windows Find And Download Drivers

If you want to try Windows' automatic update feature, open the Update Driver menu as above. However, select Search automatically for drivers.

Windows will then search for the appropriate driver. If you find it, you can install the driver by following the setup steps that Windows provides for you. If not, you can try running Windows Update to see if that helps.

Search the Start Menu by typing Windows Update and run the Best Match. Click Check for Updates.

Automatic Update Drivers

Note that it will identify all available updates for your system. If there are several, you should look at the update list to verify if the driver you're looking for is there.

Conclusion

So that's how to overcome the base system device in Windows. We hope that you can determine the Base System Device on your PC, find the appropriate driver, and fix the problem.

If you can't fix the problem, it's possible that the problem is with the hardware. You can test it using the hardware on a different PC. For example, you can plug your SD card into another PC and see if it works properly.

However, if you're having trouble with updating or finding the right driver, you might want to try a third-party driver updating app.