Easier Driver Selection - Dell IdeaStorm

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420

Easier Driver Selection

420 points posted to Dell Web Site, Service and Support by steve.au 07/04/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Not sure about you but whenever I try to download drivers for my D600, I find it tricky choosing the correct driver.

I'd like a couple of things in order of my perception of ease of exectution;
1) Name the drivers in the support downloads section the same as how it appears in Device Manager
2) Have the service tag or serial number perform a lookup to eliminate all drivers for components not in the machine
3) Have a utility to alert me to updated drivers for one of the components. (Yes I've heard of Windows Update but it doesn't work for all components).

Our newly designed support site enables search by service tag/serial numbers. You can also register for an email alert for updated drivers.

undead999 07/04/07	Dell has a utility that does #3, cant remember what its called. Also notifies user of bios updates
jorge 07/04/07	I have never had a problem, yea the new version is a bit over kill but it works.
phubert 07/05/07	I STILL think THIS is a better solution: Dell: automate firmware, driver updates for ALL systems http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/71180/Dell_automate_firmware_driver_upd...
steve.au 07/05/07	Yes it would be great to get an all singing all dancing app to do everything for you. BUT, I'm thinking thats really hard to get right. Something simple that they could do tomorrow would be to just rename the description of the driver to match what it says in Device Manager. Even a seperate lookup would do.
phubert 07/06/07	Good systems design and good programming are not hard! They may require diligence and attention to detail, but they are definitely NOT 'hard'. One good programmer/analyst could take care of it all, including the logistics with suppliers of drivers. Ford set some very specific standards for ITS suppliers and achieved 100% compliance. Dell could certainly approach the same level of success. Ford's approach, I believe, was somewhat heavy-handed. Perhaps in that industry such an approach was needed. I also believe, however, Dell could achieve success with more diplomatic methods. Between that and solid system design and programming, this could work VERY well. After all, how is Dell NOW providing the ISO that scans all recent model servers for BIOS, firmware and driver needs and updates them accordingly? If they can produce that, they can also AUTOMATE its production AND make it a self-updating program. The real question is: is the effort WORTHWHILE to Dell and its customers. I would say VERY MUCH SO on BOTH sides. Ultimately, DELL will save as, if the processes are well-defined and well-designed, ongoing maintenance would be minimal, while customers would be vastly more pleased and service calls would be reduced!
morningowl 07/12/07	I agree with phubert!
dell_admin6 07/20/07	Changed status to PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED.
dell_admin6 07/20/07	Our newly designed support site enables search by service tag/serial numbers. You can also register for an email alert for updated drivers.
phubert 07/20/07	Yes, in fact I just used this recently... moving in the right directions...
morningowl May 16	Merged Idea originally posted 07/11/07 Driver choices...too many When I visit the Drivers and Downloads portion of the site and I enter a service tag to start my driver search, please only bring up the drivers for that one system. I find it odd, that I can click the "Original System Configuration" tab and Dell knows every piece of hardware on the system; but then when I go to the drivers page, it displays 3 different audio drivers, video drivers, etc... Unfortunately it is not always obvious that we have the Sigmatel Audio device versus a Soundblaster device; the ati device; and the worst one: scsi raid drivers for systems that really don't have scsi or raid, they are specialized SATA drivers and software raid.. It's not written on the computer, and the common user isn't going to have a clue which is the right one.
winoffice May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/11/07 You are right, morningowl. Problems with the drivers may prevent you from installing an OS, particularly Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2003. To prevent problems, please simplify searching drivers!
jorge May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/11/07 Too many, is never a problem! The more the merry-er, satisfies everyone for all possible options that came with any model, its perfect!
winoffice May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/11/07 Sure, but then it gets harder to determine what is the right driver.
jorge May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/11/07 Trial and error have never failed me (yet).
jorge May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/11/07 Ogh, forgot, you can always look at the original config to determine what you have or did have when you bought it.
steve.au May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/11/07 this is a duplicate: http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/71159/Easier_Driver_Selection
morningowl May 16	Merged Comment originally posted 07/12/07 Trial and error is ok for those who have one system to manage, I have 85....the really tough one's are all the various scsi choices. Even the original configuration list doesn't help with that.
thundergrey May 16	Merged Idea originally posted May 15 Service Tag filters driver updates dell has you service tag, they know what they put in your system... i dont know if i have chipset a, b, or c... or video driver this or that... let the computer data base search for new drives for your system, thats what computer are for. not just a list of everything that has ever gone into that system
sugarbear May 16	Merged Comment originally posted May 15 This idea has been posted before. The driver update site is confusing and problematic. I think it should be incorporated into Dell support center.
sugarbear May 16	I signed up for the email alerts long ago. I have never received one. Several others I know are signed up also. The web page will show an updated driver, but they didn`t get an email either.

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