Dell Support Assist not wanted but needed?

Try3 said:

No, all you need to do to achieve as much as DSA does get drivers specific to your computer is go to the Drivers & downloads section using your Dell Service Tag, a unique identifying code for your computer [as it was shipped].

My previous post, even after amendment, was incomplete.

Start by going to the Drivers & downloads section using your Dell Service Tag, a unique identifying code for your computer [as it was shipped].

When you get the list of updates,
1 you can sort them into date order by clicking on the [entirely misleading] Release date column, then
2 for each entry in turn, click on the down arrow on the right-hand side of the line, then
3 right-click on View full driver details & select Open in new tab, then
4 look at the version number and compare it to the version number for that item shown in Device manager, then
5 if the version number shows that it is later than the one you have, download & install the item.

DSA is doing all the above for you so it can be regarded as a useful utility.

The 'Release date' is not explained anywhere but seems to bear no relation to the item that it relates to. It might merely be the date when Dell last validated its driver database.

I have found it best to keep a folder of all drivers split into Dell's subsections [Chipset, Video, ...] then further split into each hardware item within it then further split into each driver I have bothered downloading - so It looks like this

- As you can see I often put in a Device manager screenshot so I can find that entry easily in the future
- I rarely have to bother looking at the Device manager entry because, using the item in my screenshot as an example, if the offered driver version is bigger than v30.100.1725.1 then I know it is needed.
- I sometimes weed out my driver folder set but I always make a point of keeping the last couple of driver versions for each item in case there is a problem that I have merely not noticed yet.

I took the folder numbering such as 02 Chipset from How to reinstall drivers in the correct order - Dell UK even though I only take any notice of that sequence if I have several updates to do at the same time such as after a Windows 10 reinstallation.

When you have resolved the problem do consider making driver backups - see Backup and Restore Device Drivers - TenForumsTutorials

Denis

wiganken said:

... The only one that I wanted seemed to be 21 months newer than the one installed ...

That's the misleading 'Release date' entry at work again. It is fairly meaningingless. The latest driver will have been there in the list but the so-called 'Release date' clouds the issue.

Denis

Try3 - I agree with your comment "DSA is doing all the above for you so it can be regarded as a useful utility" and you seem to have gone to a lot of effort which I am not prepared to do.

I have reinstalled DSA and am now quite happy to leave it installed. It seems to do a good job and save time and effort. I no longer consider it bloatware.

I'll call this "Solved" and thank you for confirming things.

sportsfan148 said:

... it recommends installing an older version of my Intel Chipset Drivers which tech support told me to ignore as it is a glitch with DSA software online). If the Intel Chipset Drivers isn't listed as a recommended update by DSA from the desktop (in my case it wasn't listed) I manually install just the Intel Chipset Device Software for my Service Tag afterwards from the Dell website ...

Do you mean the Intel Serial IO Driver? That was also wrong for my model [Inspiron 7779] and it took several months for the problem to be ironed out.

Denis