I usually use driver update software to replace generic drivers with OEM ones (and installing missing ones). But it's handy to know that I can get the drivers from Microsoft too.
Are manufacturer-provided Drivers better than Windows Drivers?
- Thread starter voyes
- Start date
Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.
I have the inverse question, how to change from OEM drivers to the ones from Windows update.
When OEM drivers have been installed, unless drivers are excluded from Windows update, the update process breaks for me
When OEM drivers have been installed, unless drivers are excluded from Windows update, the update process breaks for me
Use Revo or wise uninstaller, reboot and use RAPR lostindark/DriverStoreExplorer to remove any remnants of the uninstalled driver. Its dangerous tool but RAPR has section such as audio,video etc.. so you won't mess up.
- Jun 10, 2017
- 248
I have found Microsoft drivers for Win 10 seem to be OK for system level components on the motherboard, and for peripherals like keyboards, mice, etc. My mobo manufacturer stopped issuing driver updates years ago.
But for video, sound, printers, and any add-in PCIe cards, etc., I would go with the manufacturer drivers.
But for video, sound, printers, and any add-in PCIe cards, etc., I would go with the manufacturer drivers.
- Mar 26, 2015
- 34
i am a novice, but let me share my experience here. i was using an old HP laptop that came preinstalled with windows-7. everytime i had to clean install, i would use the windows-7 recovery image i had created when i bought the machine, and then upgrade-install t windows-10, because my machine had no drivers for win-10 (only 7 and 8.1 were supported). but at one point i thought it was very lengthy. so once when reinstallation was needed, i directly installed win-10 and installed the appropriate windows 10 graphics drivers from intel and AMD (coz i had intel HD 3000 / AMD RADEON 7470M switchable graphics). from that point, my machine started experiencing BSODs and soon, both my graphics adapters have stopped functioning. now the machine still functions but i cannot change the brightness from maximum, cannot boot into linux-based USB sticks, etc. i learnt a big lesson the hard way - to stick to the OEM's drivers no matter what.
PS. i am just sharing my experience so that others coming across this thread can benefit. i have no intention to revive back an old thread.
PS. i am just sharing my experience so that others coming across this thread can benefit. i have no intention to revive back an old thread.
To change the screen brightness you need to install HP Hotkey Support. After doing do, you will be able to use the brightness function keys again.
https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp91501-92000/sp91903.exe
Being able to boot from USB is not affected by doing a clean install of Windows 10. You just may need to adjust some BIOS settings.
There is no need just to stick with the OEM drivers. To start with, when you upgrade from Windows 7 to 10, your system will not retain all of the Windows 7 drivers. A number of drivers will be replaced with Windows 10 specific drivers. If some drivers are causing BSODs, if you install BlueScreenView, it should be able to show what drivers are causing the crashes and you can then update those drivers to prevent further BSODs.
In addition to that, it is better to do a clean install of Windows 10, rather than an upgrade, as a clean install will potentially work better. If you have software installed that you want to keep, then doing an upgrade makes sense, as it saves you the time and hassle of having to reinstall software. However, since you are starting with just the factory install of Windows 7, a clean install would be the better option.
I've done clean installs of Windows 10 on over 20 computers so far this year and have experienced no major problems. The manufacturers only provided Windows 10 drivers for two or three of systems. For the rest, the majority only had drivers provided by the manufacturer for Windows 7 and sometimes only for Vista. This is a good example as to why having Windows 10 support from the manufacturers matters very little.
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For that Radeon 7xxxM/8xxxM OEM drivers are the only way possible otherwise it will be BSOD'ing regularly for no reason.
- Aug 27, 2020
- 446
I have a Question: My Acer Care Center(App on Acer Computers) when I log in to Acer using My SNID NR, there are multiple drivers for my Acer Aspire 315 Notebook but they are all dated 2019, should I install them, besides I have just Factory Reset my PC, and it runs smoothly.
What shall I do, Please Help!
What shall I do, Please Help!
If its running without any issues don't update. Update drivers only if necessary.I have a Question: My Acer Care Center(App on Acer Computers) when I log in to Acer using My SNID NR, there are multiple drivers for my Acer Aspire 315 Notebook but they are all dated 2019, should I install them, besides I have just Factory Reset my PC, and it runs smoothly.
What shall I do, Please Help!
- Aug 27, 2020
- 446
Are the current drivers older than the ones it wants to install? Or are they generic ones, such as "High Definition Audio Device" rather than the OEM ones. In both cases, it makes sense to update them. If neither case applies, don't update them.I have a Question: My Acer Care Center(App on Acer Computers) when I log in to Acer using My SNID NR, there are multiple drivers for my Acer Aspire 315 Notebook but they are all dated 2019, should I install them, besides I have just Factory Reset my PC, and it runs smoothly.
What shall I do, Please Help!
- Mar 26, 2015
- 34
can i please know why? and is there atleast a bleak possibility that the damage can be reversed?
You can use DDU to remove current GPU driver and use OEM driver.
It seems OEM limited driver update using device id based whitelisting. I had a Sony Vaio which was impossible to do driver upgrade from AMD since the display starts flickering the moment you install generic drivers.
You might be right but manufacturer drivers are still better mainly if you have a laptop. In most cases it doesn't matter that manufacturer has older version of driver. For example recently I did fresh install of windows 10 on two laptops and drivers was installed by windows.
First laptop had problems with nvidia driver that led to lower fps in games. After I installed driver from manufacturer site everything worked as it should be.
Second laptop had realtek sound driver "from windows" that was causing low microphone volume even if everything was on maximum. Again driver from manufacturer solved this problem.
From this point I don't let windows to download drivers.
If you have an old laptop when manufacturer drivers don't support Windows 10 than yes, let windows to download drivers.
Other than that the best solution is to download drivers to usb, turn off internet, install windows, install drivers, turn off update drivers in gpedit, connect internet.
Depends on your hardware. I usually updated from nvidia itself but lately their drivers seems very heavy even after removing bloat using nvcleanstall. So, I switched to microsoft drivers 388.xx which had updated nv control panel 9.4 but CUDA/OpenCL was old otherwise barebone driver with HD audio for HDMI weighing at 300MB. I can play latest games at FHD at High or Ultra at 60 FPS on 980M 8GB.
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