MS Downloads of Dell Graphics Drivers?

fred wrote:
"NoNoBadDog!" wrote in message
news:io3qe.23851$KQ2.14967@trnddc08...

wrote in message
groups.com...

Boy am I confused.

Hi,
I saw the MS yellow shield which indicated an MS download is awaiting.
I clicked on it and a large gray dialog box asked if I wish to download
DELL graphics drivers.

I clicked YES and waited a second or two and then received a dialog box
that advised the downloads could NOT be done...no explanation!!

What gives. I removed all programs that were running in the back ground
before I tried the downloads.

Mike


You should never download MS drivers for your hardware.


Wrong, always use drivers recommended by MS Update -after- you've updated
to the latest Dell stuff.


Always use those
supplied by the manufacturer (Dell).


First but not only. HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some point
and often that's before MS does.


The MS drivers are not the same as
those supplied by Dell, and may degrade the performance of your computer.


Nonsense.


As others have said, you are incorrect. For example, on my desktop I
have an ATI card and Windows Update wants me to use the update published
in February of this year over the Catalyst driver published today
(6/9/05) by ATI, themselves. I agree that in the very long run, when
OEM's stop providing drivers for products that have reached their
end-of-life periods, you ought to use ones put out by MS. However, in
the case of products who are still supported by their producers, it's in
your best interest to use OEM publishers latest drivers.

"NuTCrAcKeR" wrote in message
...


WOW, do you have any clue regarding these matters? You must claim that
the
color of the website banner come into this somewhere?


you are ignornat.

I agree with the otherguy ... never install device drivers via windows
update. They are the baseline reference drivers, not the preferred OEM
drivers. They are there largely, as the other guy said, to get basic
plug-n-play support for devices until you can install the current OEM
drivers for the devices.

Get a clue. What I said and is the standard procedure for the competent is
to download and install the latest from the system mfg and/or component mfg.
THEN if Windows Update still offers a driver for the gadget then by all
means download and install MS's version.

Just 2 days ago, I accidently downloaded a CMedia sound driver via windows
update. My board has an nForce 2 chipset, so its an nVidia audio chip.
Windows update mis-identified my hardware. the driver that was downloaded
and installed stopped the sound from working AT ALL. I had to do a driver
rollback to get my sound back.

That is just 1 instance, and over the years there have been many others.

On the servers I manage, there are often new Intel, HP, Emulex, etc
drivers
available, and I would get fired if I ever let WU install those.

Moral of the story ... DO NOT USE WU FOR DEVICE DRIVER INSTALLS. EVER.
PERIOD.

A moral from the clueless.

"Nicholas Andrade" wrote in message
. com...
fred wrote:
"NoNoBadDog!" wrote in message
news:io3qe.23851$KQ2.14967@trnddc08...

wrote in message
groups.com...

Boy am I confused.

Hi,
I saw the MS yellow shield which indicated an MS download is awaiting.
I clicked on it and a large gray dialog box asked if I wish to download
DELL graphics drivers.

I clicked YES and waited a second or two and then received a dialog box
that advised the downloads could NOT be done...no explanation!!

What gives. I removed all programs that were running in the back ground
before I tried the downloads.

Mike


You should never download MS drivers for your hardware.


Wrong, always use drivers recommended by MS Update -after- you've
updated
to the latest Dell stuff.


Always use those
supplied by the manufacturer (Dell).


First but not only. HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some
point
and often that's before MS does.


The MS drivers are not the same as
those supplied by Dell, and may degrade the performance of your
computer.


Nonsense.


As others have said, you are incorrect. For example, on my desktop I
have an ATI card and Windows Update wants me to use the update published
in February of this year over the Catalyst driver published today
(6/9/05) by ATI, themselves. I agree that in the very long run, when
OEM's stop providing drivers for products that have reached their
end-of-life periods, you ought to use ones put out by MS. However, in
the case of products who are still supported by their producers, it's in
your best interest to use OEM publishers latest drivers.

Right, usually Windows Update stops offering a driver if the one on the
system is newer than MS's. I wonder what's happening there?

"fred" wrote in message
...

"NuTCrAcKeR" wrote in message
...


WOW, do you have any clue regarding these matters? You must claim
that
the
color of the website banner come into this somewhere?


you are ignornat.

I agree with the otherguy ... never install device drivers via windows
update. They are the baseline reference drivers, not the preferred OEM
drivers. They are there largely, as the other guy said, to get basic
plug-n-play support for devices until you can install the current OEM
drivers for the devices.

Get a clue. What I said and is the standard procedure for the competent
is
to download and install the latest from the system mfg and/or component
mfg.
THEN if Windows Update still offers a driver for the gadget then by all
means download and install MS's version.

Just 2 days ago, I accidently downloaded a CMedia sound driver via
windows
update. My board has an nForce 2 chipset, so its an nVidia audio chip.
Windows update mis-identified my hardware. the driver that was downloaded
and installed stopped the sound from working AT ALL. I had to do a driver
rollback to get my sound back.

That is just 1 instance, and over the years there have been many others.

On the servers I manage, there are often new Intel, HP, Emulex, etc
drivers
available, and I would get fired if I ever let WU install those.

Moral of the story ... DO NOT USE WU FOR DEVICE DRIVER INSTALLS. EVER.
PERIOD.

A moral from the clueless.

ATI has just released the Catalyst 5.6 drivers for their video cards. S.
you are telling me that I should install these drivers (released yesterday),
and then go and download the driver "update" on Windows update that was
released over 4 months ago?

You are the clueless one.

Since you cannot mount a defense for the drivel you are spewing, perhaps it
is time for *YOU* to realize that when one makes a mistake and is not
willing to admit it, it might be better to simply STFU.

You continue to show your complete ignorance of the relevant facts here.

Welcome to the killfile.

Bobby

Welcome to the killfile.

Bobby


agreed. He made my killfile filter as well

| Microsoft offer basic driver sets for popular hardware. This is for the
| benefit of enterprise level hardware on which manufacturers "extended"
| drivers are not needed. While some of these drivers are supplied by the
| manufacturers themselves, quite often they are generic non-OEm drivers
| developed by Microsoft. In general terms, these drivers are baseline
| drivers, intended for installation on mission hardware with a minimum
| footprint and still provide functionality.
|
| If there's any content to that gibber it's hard to find.
|
| They are not and never have been recommended as replacements or
| enhancements
| to the manufacturers drivers designed for consumer machines.
| A simple experiment will demonstrate this;
|
| 1. Download the latest driver posted at Dell; save it on your HDD but
| don't
| install it.
| 2. Download the "same" driver form the Microsoft website. Save it to
your
| HDD and don't install it.
|
| Now, simply compare the file sizes.
|
| Hmmm....
|
| WOW, do you have any clue regarding these matters? You must claim that
the
| color of the website banner come into this somewhere?
|

Fred,

Baddog is exactly correct and seems to know (on this topic at least :-)
exactly what he's talking about.

Downloading device drivers from WUD is a bad idea. Spend a little time in
the Microsoft Public Newsgroups and you'll find that even Microsoft MVPs
recommend obtaining drivers from the manufacturer of the device as opposed
to WUD.

As baddog correctly stated the drivers offered @ WUD basic functionality
generally are missing extended functions that the manufacturers driver
provide.

A frequent thread in the MS Newsgroups goes something like;

"I just downloaded a driver from Windows Update and now my
(fill-in-the-blank) doesn't work anymore."

The response is invariably, "don't get your drivers from Windows Update. Go
to the manufacturers support site for your computer/device and obtain as
driver there."

--
Doug

I'm not an MVP a VIP nor do I have ESP.
I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details.

Remove shoes to E-mail.

Equally true for network cards, audio cards, and just about any other hardware
you will find in a computer... Ben Myers

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:51:56 GMT, "fred" wrote:


ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
There's no set formula whether drivers from Microsoft or Dell are better.
I've
had drivers from the Microsoft update site hose up a system, so they
should
NEVER be characterized as perfection. Name brand manufacturers tend to
lag way
behind in providing updated drivers, because all they really care about is
selling new systems, not supporting existing ones.

The bottom line is that very few desktop and server systems use customized
chipsets, and drivers are tightly tied to the chipset. (Way back when
computers
cost thousands of dollars, Compaq and others imposed on chipset
manufacturers to
make some chips a little different. Once Compaq found out the high cost
of
supporting custom chipsets, it then began using standard ones across the
board(s). )

Me? I almost routinely go to the web site of the chipset or motherboard
manufacturer. For example, the drivers from the Intel web site are just
fine
for motherboard chipsets and built-in Intel "extreme graphics". The
chipset
manufacturer does all the work to correct driver defects, then issues
copies to
Micro$oft and the name brand manufacturers and/or board manufacturers. So
if
you want the latest, go to the website of the chipset manufacturer... Ben
Myers

Probably true for the chipset driver and display drivers but then that
wasn't the issue at hand was it.

What's happening is that you can't trust Microsoft's update to always do the
right thing. This has always been the case. As with anything else Microsoft
touches, they have made software updates so damned complicated that they confuse
themselves... Ben Myers

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 06:52:51 GMT, "fred" wrote:


"Nicholas Andrade" wrote in message
.com...
fred wrote:
"NoNoBadDog!" wrote in message
news:io3qe.23851$KQ2.14967@trnddc08...

wrote in message
groups.com...

Boy am I confused.

Hi,
I saw the MS yellow shield which indicated an MS download is awaiting.
I clicked on it and a large gray dialog box asked if I wish to download
DELL graphics drivers.

I clicked YES and waited a second or two and then received a dialog box
that advised the downloads could NOT be done...no explanation!!

What gives. I removed all programs that were running in the back ground
before I tried the downloads.

Mike


You should never download MS drivers for your hardware.


Wrong, always use drivers recommended by MS Update -after- you've
updated
to the latest Dell stuff.


Always use those
supplied by the manufacturer (Dell).


First but not only. HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some
point
and often that's before MS does.


The MS drivers are not the same as
those supplied by Dell, and may degrade the performance of your
computer.


Nonsense.


As others have said, you are incorrect. For example, on my desktop I
have an ATI card and Windows Update wants me to use the update published
in February of this year over the Catalyst driver published today
(6/9/05) by ATI, themselves. I agree that in the very long run, when
OEM's stop providing drivers for products that have reached their
end-of-life periods, you ought to use ones put out by MS. However, in
the case of products who are still supported by their producers, it's in
your best interest to use OEM publishers latest drivers.

Right, usually Windows Update stops offering a driver if the one on the
system is newer than MS's. I wonder what's happening there?

" HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some point and often that's
before MS does." Huh? This gives me the impression that Microsoft has a whole
bunch of worker bees scrutinizing the drivers and fixing them up. And we are
supposed to think that Microsoft is so gracious and caring that they would do
this? Sure! I'd like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge while we're at it, too.

First, to get hardware device drivers onto the Windows installation CD and or to
get the latest versions of drivers onto the Microsoft update site, the chipset
developers (e.g, Intel and VIA for motherboards; Intel, ATI and nVidia for
graphics; Intel, 3com, Realtek for network cards; Conexant and PCTel for modems;
Creative and ADI for audio) first pay Microsoft for the privilege of including
the drivers on the install CD, then they pay to have each edition of drivers
tested in Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL), and they probably
pay by the megabyte for space on the update web site. WHQL DOES run some
pretty extensive tests on the drivers before they are affixed with an electronic
WHQL certificate and made available as updates.

Why are updates even done by the hardware manufacturers? Three reasons. The
one most people should be concerned about is to fix defects. The next is to fix
glaring performance problems, such as those revealed recently by a 3rd party
company testing network drivers. The third, usually the case for ATI, nVidia
and Intel, is to incorporate new hardware into an omnibus driver, i.e. a single
driver set that supports a wide variety of chips. Examples are Intel's
800-series motherboard chipsets and nVidia's family of graphics chips.

Many hardware manufacturers, especially those of low-volume devices such as
scanners and special purpose printers, often do not submit their drivers to WHQL
because it is too expensive to do so.

Hardware manufacturers often augment their driver sets with additional
utilities, which you will not find on the Microsoft update site. Examples might
be better fine-tuning of graphics capabilities (ATI, nVidia, Matrox) and
additional audio features (ADI and Creative).

Now where is it that the supposed Microsoft hardware driver developers enter
into play in the above scenario??? ... Ben Myers

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:04:39 GMT, "fred" wrote:


"NoNoBadDog!" wrote in message
news:io3qe.23851$KQ2.14967@trnddc08...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Boy am I confused.

Hi,
I saw the MS yellow shield which indicated an MS download is awaiting.
I clicked on it and a large gray dialog box asked if I wish to download
DELL graphics drivers.

I clicked YES and waited a second or two and then received a dialog box
that advised the downloads could NOT be done...no explanation!!

What gives. I removed all programs that were running in the back ground
before I tried the downloads.

Mike

You should never download MS drivers for your hardware.

Wrong, always use drivers recommended by MS Update -after- you've updated
to the latest Dell stuff.

Always use those
supplied by the manufacturer (Dell).

First but not only. HW mfgs stop providing new fixes/versions at some point
and often that's before MS does.

The MS drivers are not the same as
those supplied by Dell, and may degrade the performance of your computer.

Nonsense.

wrote:
Boy am I confused.

Yeah, it's confusing. I've had some bad results with WinUp
mis-identifying hardware and loading drivers that cause it to stop
functioning, so I'm wareful of device drivers from M$. IMHO, the
order of precedence is:

Drivers from the device manufacturer (Intel, ATI, nVidia, etc). These
will almost universally be the latest and greatest drivers, with all
the current performance enhancements and bugfixes.

Drivers from the computer manufacturer (Dell, etc). These are
nessesary in some cases, where the device manufacturer's generic
drivers aren't applicable to your custom hardware. For instance,
laptop video drivers are in this category.

Drivers from MicroSoft. These aren't always evil, BTW, I've had M$
drivers automatically discover what type of video card I have and
install a functional (if not optimal) set of drivers, so I can then
know what vendor to check for the latest drivers. However, they
should be either a last resort or a preliminary diagnostic tool.