Unsolved
23 Posts
1
1731
What does it take for newer drivers to be provided?
I have several systems that share some components, what prompted me to write this thread are my 5570 and 5580. The WiFi+BT card in both is a QCA9377 and yet the drivers available in the support page differ.
The one provided in the 5570 page is 12.0.0.709 and the one in the 5580, 12.0.0.720. But what's worse, searching through the support site I encountered newer versions even, like the 12.0.0.817 provided for the Latitude 3300.
When a new driver is available for a card, why is it not provided to all of the systems that shipped with it? All of those systems are still being made and shipped. Do we need to request it to be added, or is there anything that needs to happen for it to be provided maybe? I just downloaded the one I found for that Latitude system and it works perfectly in both my machines.
I have another machine a 5568 2-in-1 and the drivers provided for the graphics card are also out of date. They're version 23.20.16.4973, built almost a full year ago, on the 28th of february, and since then there have been other v24.xx and currently v25.xx releases by Intel, and they also seem to work fine.
For example, the one provided for my 5580, 24.20.100.6292, works too. More important than the newer capabilities they may bring are the fixes they provide, notably the one provided for my 5568 (and 5570) ships with the audio driver that caused Windows 1809 rollout to stop, 10.24.0.3. It has since been fixed by Intel (last August?), but the updated drivers are still not up for the devices.
I've also noted that drivers are being "bumped" for lack of a better word, showing update dates when there's no update, why is that? For example the one for the graphics card of the 5568:
Mismatching datesRight now I'm running my 5568 on 1803 set to be in the Semi-Annual Channel (not targeted) not to update to 1809 to save me from having issues with that driver, but the window for the release of 1809 to SAC is nearing its end.
I mentioned the WiFi+BT and the ones for the graphics stack because those are the ones I dealt with right now, but the same happens for audio drivers, thermal stuff, HID, ... And the dates for updates changing even for BIOS files (and there's no change whatsoever, hashes match).
PS. Intel audio issue: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4465877/what-needs-your-attention-intel-audio-display-notification
KaoDome
23 Posts
0
March 4th, 2019 04:00
Since it's been more than a week and there are no replies I'm bumping the thread, I'd appreciate any reply from Dell, I'm sure more people would too.
The above image details another example, for my 5568 there have been some updates lately, but are they really? Those two were released in May of 2016 and re-released (?) a few days ago. I don't have an older file of these to compare their contents and the digital signatures have changed (they're signed a few days ago as well), but they're still A00 releases (initial releases).
Has anything been updated? If so, could we know what?
Thanks for your time anyway.
Teetertotter
293 Posts
0
March 4th, 2019 09:00
What initially came with your system and working just fine, you maybe causing issues if you change, thinking that a RECOMMENDED different version driver will be better. Long story short.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=should+i+update+drivers+on+my+computer&qs=SC&pq=should+i+update+drivers+on+my+pc&sc=2-32&cvid=AFED65676A3C413086FE4FE5DB9298F9&FORM=QBLH&sp=1
KaoDome
23 Posts
0
March 4th, 2019 09:00
Hi! Thanks for the reply Teetertotter, but unfortunately it is unrelated to what the thread is about.
Whether installing a newer version of the driver is beneficial or not is debatable, for example I wouldn't recommend at all keeping whatever it is that comes installed with the machine indefinitely, but it's not the point of the discussion.
What I'm interested in knowing is:
1) What it takes for new drivers to be provided, whether we have to formally request them or something similar, since some may pose security issues or limit OS upgrades.
2) Why the provided drivers for a certain component are different depending on the system (e.g. the ones I mentioned about the network card). I could understand critical stuff, but it happens even for the least coupled component.
3) Why some drivers are marked as updated when they don't seem to be (because the installation file is the same), or why they're re-released (at least re-signed) while keeping the same version ID.
In other words, it has more to do with how Dell handles these things, and whether there's something that we, as users, could do to improve the current state of things or procedure.
Clintlgm
2 Intern
2 Intern
•
1.5K Posts
0
March 4th, 2019 10:00
I use Dell Command Update, it is a manual update too that Dell Tech Support and switch on users use. Its a manual App rather than the supplied Dell Update and Dell update assistant, you'll find it in your download driver page. or search for itl