[SOLVED] HP Drivers Page Makes Me CRAZY!!!

[Appletax]

Solution: use the latest drivers, wait a few minutes while they process in the background, restart. Windows Update next and HP Support Assistant after. Finish with Intel or AMD's update program.


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Everytime I go to get drivers from HP using the PC's serial number, I get a massive list of drivers with multiple variations. I download the one that seems like it will work and many time it does now. I just tried installing like 5 versions of Intel's Thermal driver. Run the .exe and it does nothing that I can tell. Eventually, one of the installers told me a newer version of the Thermal driver was installed so I moved to the next driver. And that is just one driver. It has happening with multiple drivers. Makes me want to strangle every HP tech lol.

Any tips for choosing the correct driver?

I do not like letting Windows Update pick the initial drivers. I keep the system offline until the drivers are done.

Edit: pretty sure that the drivers are silently installing in the background. No progress indicator that tells me when the installation is complete is a massive annoyance. How am I supposed to know when I can install the next driver?

 

[britechguy]

When it comes to drivers from any manufacturer's support page, I always choose the most recent one (usually by version and date, but by date if there happens to be what looks like an older version but with a more recent release date).

I have never had a single difficulty with allowing Windows to choose drivers for at least 3 years, probably a bit more.

And if you're talking strictly HP, then use HP Support Assistant. I have never had it select anything but the correct drivers for any HP machine on which I've used it. The same has been true, generally, of all the manufacturer provided "service station" type programs on their respective hardware.

 

[Appletax]

When it comes to drivers from any manufacturer's support page, I always choose the most recent one (usually by version and date, but by date if there happens to be what looks like an older version but with a more recent release date).

I have never had a single difficulty with allowing Windows to choose drivers for at least 3 years, probably a bit more.

And if you're talking strictly HP, then use HP Support Assistant. I have never had it select anything but the correct drivers for any HP machine on which I've used it. The same has been true, generally, of all the manufacturer provided "service station" type programs on their respective hardware.

I think the issue is that HP's installers are often silent with no indication as to what is going on or when the installation is complete. Super dooper annoying.

I had been mostly downloading the very first driver release as that seemed to more often give me a window with installation options and progress indication.

Guess I will just go with the latest version and wait a few minutes depending on the size of the driver.

 

[Appletax]

Latest version of touchpad driver is 15MB compared to other, older versions that are massively larger. Which one do I choose?

 

[britechguy]

I think the issue is that HP's installers are often silent with no indication as to what is going on or when the installation is complete. Super dooper annoying.

Not if you use HP Support Assistant.

Because the target audience is end users it is, shall we say, verbose (although it's not text, generally).

This is not aimed at you, but is a general observation: I have no idea why techs seem to resist these "service station" types of programs. They help to keep things up to date, especially if we're talking the residential sector, with minimal to no user intervention and the updates come "straight from the source."

If HP, Acer, Asus, Toshiba (now Dynabook), Lenovo, etc., etc., etc., don't know how their own firmware and drivers need to be updated then nobody does. They created (or custom modified) these and were responsible for picking them initially. They really do know best.

When it comes to updates in general, and Windows Updates in particular, never have wiser words been written than those of John Carrona, a now retired BSOD specialist who was very active on BleepingComputer for years (our times there overlapped):

There really isn't a point to checking for updates and not installing them. . . It's important to install all available updates. I've been doing this since the days of DOS, and I still don't have the confidence to pick and choose among updates. There are just too many variables involved - and most people can't evaluate the full consequences of installing/not installing updates.
~ John Carrona, AKA usasma on BleepingComputer.com, http://www.carrona.org/

 

[britechguy]

Which one do I choose?

Simple, the most recent one. Look at the Windows 10 versions explicitly listed for the older ones.

But, plain and simple, use HP Support Assistant.

Also, you need to remember, the days where "standalone installers" were the default are now long gone. Most things listed are installer stubs which actually download "the guts of the update" as part of running. They're always tiny compared to standalone installers. Also note that the size of the version for use with Windows 10, Version 1903, took a huge tumble in size. That's why.

 

[HCHTech]

I have no idea why techs seem to resist these "service station" types of programs.

I used to avoid these like the plague, mostly because of the intrusive popups and nags to buy warranty extensions, renew the trial AV that we deleted, etc.. Not sure if it's universal, but I have the impression that they've gotten better as Windows 10 aged. HP Support Assistant, Dell Command, Lenovo Vantage - Can't remember the Acer one. We put these on regularly as part of our tuneup/cleanup routine & certainly after a N&P. The "fancier" the computer, the more likely it is that some device or another will end up unidentified after a fresh install.

 

[Metanis]

I don't bother with manufacturer sites except for BIOS updates. I do a custom install of IOBIT's Driver Booster, let it do its job one time and then I uninstall it after the obligatory reboot.

 

[Appletax]

Got a brand new HP laptop. Reinstalling Windows 11 using Microsoft's stock version.

Went to HP for the drivers and I have two choices:

1 - Windows 11
2 - Windows 11 version 21H2 (64-Bit)

There's only ever been one version of Windows 11 at this point, so have two choices is very confusing.

Spoke with customer service and they said option 2 is the latest.

Thankfully, there's only 1 version of each driver. THANK GOD LOL.

 

[Markverhyden]

At some point they have to rename the original to differentiate between versions. Since RTM was 10/21 (21H2) I'd bet that 1 and 2 above are one and the same. But the real determinant is if the two drivers are the same. Pretty much every download option I've seen has always had some type of "newness" indicator. Either published dat or version number.

 

[fincoder]

IOBIT's Driver Booster

For driver installer tools, I only use Snappy Driver Installer Origin (open source, maintained by technibble member @glennd ). I wouldn't trust IOBIT software or any other consumer driver installer.

However in recent years SDIO isn't needed very often. Windows 10/11 updates install drivers submitted to them by manufacturers so they're generally reliable. Sometimes you need to go to Optional Updates to find missing drivers.

HP Support Assistant also works quite well, and the Dell equivalent.

 

[britechguy]

Windows 10/11 updates install drivers submitted to them by manufacturers so they're generally reliable. Sometimes you need to go to Optional Updates to find missing drivers.

Amen!!

I haven't ever had to go to Optional Updates, either, but I'm not trying to say that no one has. I tend to avoid all Optional Updates whenever possible, including "previews." I'm not in any hurry for a sneak peek, thanks.

 

[fincoder]

Windows 10/11 updates install drivers submitted to them by manufacturers so they're generally reliable. Sometimes you need to go to Optional Updates to find missing drivers.

Just a follow-up on my post above.

I just built a PC with an Asus B560 motherboard and Intel 11th gen CPU, Windows 11 did not install all drivers, even after installing optional driver updates. Outstanding were SMBUS and a few other obscure drivers that appear to be related to the Intel chipset. I manually installed drivers supplied by Asus for the motherboard.

11th gen isn't even the latest generation (12th was recently released). I'm not sure why Microsoft isn't supplying all drivers for a mainstream Intel platform that's been available for over 6 months. Delays caused by covid staffing shortages?

 

[Porthos]

I just built a PC with an Asus B560 motherboard and Intel 11th gen CPU, Windows 11 did not install all drivers

Never mind

 

[britechguy]

I'm not sure why Microsoft isn't supplying all drivers for a mainstream Intel platform that's been available for over 6 months. Delays caused by covid staffing shortages?

It may not be Microsoft's fault, either. The blinding speed with which Intel seems to churn out driver updates for almost anything they make means that even if they supply it to Microsoft the first day it goes out (which I very much doubt is happening) it would take a minimum of several business days, at the bearest minimum, for them to arrive in The Great Microsoft Driver Library in the Cloud. I would expect a period of weeks, not days, and much of it depends on the volume of drivers Microsoft has coming in at any one time as well as whether the respective providers of same are actually providing them to Microsoft in a timely manner.

I doubt we'll ever know why any of these delays occur, or who is at fault for them.

 

[Sky-Knight]

It may not be Microsoft's fault, either. The blinding speed with which Intel seems to churn out driver updates for almost anything they make means that even if they supply it to Microsoft the first day it goes out (which I very much doubt is happening) it would take a minimum of several business days, at the bearest minimum, for them to arrive in The Great Microsoft Driver Library in the Cloud. I would expect a period of weeks, not days, and much of it depends on the volume of drivers Microsoft has coming in at any one time as well as whether the respective providers of same are actually providing them to Microsoft in a timely manner.

I doubt we'll ever know why any of these delays occur, or who is at fault for them.

Not to mention Microsoft has to do all of this to service a customer base that whines about every little new monthly charge they add that might actually get them PAID for it.

Microsoft is a SOFTWARE company, except wherein their named hardware exists they are under no obligation to support the hardware. And yet, while HP was paid to do all that lifting, Microsoft is being asked to do it instead?

Tier 1 OEMs exist to provide hardware support, it's THEIR JOB to support their platforms. If we want Microsoft to do it for us, we should expect to have to pay them to do so. We don't, so I consider Microsoft's efforts in this space to be a best effort scenario, or a value added marginal service. And why shouldn't I, it certainly behaves as such.

There was a time when we'd have to compile drivers ourselves... things are a world better today. But I don't have much sympathy for a tech that cannot properly identify a driver when we have device manager to copy the hardware ID out of, and Google to paste it into.

 

[britechguy]

But I don't have much sympathy for a tech that cannot properly identify a driver when we have device manager to copy the hardware ID out of, and Google to paste it into.

I do, but only because it's becoming exceedingly rare to even need to do this and I don't ever recall having had to do it before, ever. If I did, it's so far in the cobwebs of memory that it wouldn't be coming out anytime soon.

I must live a charmed life (and, I can assure you, other than perhaps in this specific thing, I do not) but I have never had any "major adventures with drivers." And I'm someone who's been using Windows (and, indeed, DOS) from the very beginning. And the small adventures I have had are in the very distant past, I'd say somewhere in the late 1980s would be the most recent. Modern versions of Windows and the inclusion of "service station" type software by device manufacturers have made driver maintenance virtually automatic or actually automatic, depending on how you tweak your settings. For myself, on my machines, I ask for notification and download, but do the installing myself. For client machines it's the full automatic route.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy It's more common in performance computing or gaming circles. It's almost non-existent for equipment made by tier 1s.

BUT... HP in particular is really bad about making a model of machine that's actually more like 8 and slapping them all out there with the same name. So you're looking at a laundry list of potential options, and your only choice is to try them all in order to see what sticks! And worse? Until you do... MS provides the wrong driver, if they provide one at all!

It's infuriating... This reality is also why I'm still a primarily Intel house, and Dell house. I know Dell's stupidity, I know their site well, and if Intel is the source manufacturer I can always fall back to their utility to get a driver that might be better than the one Dell provides.

Because if I'm going to go driver by driver hunting crap down, I'd better be sorting out my own white box, or being paid by the hour... no one has time for that crap anymore.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Generally, Lenovo, HP and Dell I have no major issues with the auto update programs. Other vendors like Acer, used to have a driver update feature, but they have a history of discontinuing services and features, and Acer never really put allot of effort into gussing up the support for it's products. Panasonic doesn't have an update app per se, unless you opt in for managed services they offer (which I'm not familiar with if they are a per unit or central etc).

The only time when auto update apps get in the way is for very low power systems, where the CPU doesn't have the ability to keep up. Although systems like that still exist, (I'm looking at you HP! eMMC!!!!) they are at least not as terrible as previous generations. However, with Windows 10's ability to outstrip resources available, it won't be long before even those systems lag behind.