Is there any standard tool for checking hardware and drivers?

How do I test whether all my hardware is properly working? Is there any standard tool for error checking, benchmarking, etc for checking hardware?

In Ubuntu we have such option with an application named as System testing. You can open it from unity dash by typing as System Testing.

After opening here , you can perform all your required tests. Its having everything you need.

Update : if you haven't found it already installed in your Ubuntu , you can install it with

sudo apt-get install checkbox

Hope that helps.

How do I install drivers for all my hardware safely?

Basically you should not have to. Ubuntu uses generic drivers so it will have them installed already -but- sometimes you need to tweak them or block a specific module to have it working. I would suggest trying to find all the specifics for all the different hardware and have a look if others had trouble with that hardware (sometimes the hardware is MicroSoft only though this happens less and less).

If you come up short make a question on AU for each hardware part (but make sure to search first ;) )

How do I test whether all my hardware is properly working?

Open dash and start typing friendly. This will get you to a tool that tests your system.

More information can be found here (there is a video there and a run through of the program it starts).

At the end, if you ran all the test, it can upload the results to the Friendly site so others can see what works.