SDI - Driver Installer Any Good?

[Brekka]

Recently, went to a PC shop and was informed by the the owner that SDI should be recommended to quickly install drivers for Windows 10. He also informed me to deactivate all automatic driver downloads from Microsoft and never use programs like Driver Booster etc.

Just wanted some insight from other PC experts regarding downloading SDI (Snappy Driver Installer). Thanks!

 

[androbourne]

Honestly. I always avoid driver installers from 3rd parties. They are normally riddled with malware. The only driver installers I use are straight from the manufacture of the PC. HP and Dell have their auto detectors or USB thumb driver ISOs that are used for driver\firmware auto installs.

I do not have experience of SDI directly. But their website looks like questionable. If I were you, I'd avoid it and just look up the hardware missing drivers (from device manager) and manually search for the drivers on the manufacture website.

 

[Brekka]

That is completely understandable, but the problem I'm always having, is that once I do this manually it's never found or unable to install.

The tech guy also said the same - to avoid 3rd parties, but he strongly recommended SDI due to the fact that downloading from the actual manufacturer gives old outdated drivers that may be incompatible with the system.

Edit: Right now (old laptop) one unknown device. But SDI detects several devices that can be upgraded.
I have SDI on an old laptop currently, haven't ran it yet. Just want to be 110% certain it's really safe due to my issue at hand. I don't want to run my main laptop without ANY drivers.

 

[androbourne]

That depends on the manufacture. The PC manufacture maybe only one or two versions behind but the hardware manufacture would be fully up-to-date. Such as going to Intels site for an Intel NIC, MSI site for chipset drivers of an MSI board, etc...

Going straight to hardware manufacture is always the best.

If you trust the tech guy and dont have much to lose on that PC. The go ahead and give SDI a try. I may try it out myself next time I have a PC that needs drivers.

 

[Brekka]

That depends on the manufacture. The PC manufacture maybe only one or two versions behind but the hardware manufacture would be fully up-to-date. Such as going to Intels site for an Intel NIC, MSI site for chipset drivers of an MSI board, etc...

Going straight to hardware manufacture is always the best.

If you trust the tech guy and dont have much to lose on that PC. The go ahead and give SDI a try. I may try it out myself next time I have a PC that needs drivers.

Ah, ok I gotcha. I currently have a driver that's unknown, but the location is Intel (R) ICH9M LPC Interface Controller -2919. I'll go ahead and install that manually. That should clear up the listings on SDI's behalf. Hm..I'll try it out.

 

[Colif]

what make/model laptop is it? What drivers won't install?

3rd party driver installers can often install the wrong drivers and leave you with a PC that won't work - https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/7dsxw3/do_not_use_snappy_driver_installer/

If its old, sometimes you have to get drivers direct from other manufacturers, like for Realtek sound or LAN drivers.


Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller

 

[Brekka]

what make/model laptop is it? What drivers won't install?

3rd party driver installers can often install the wrong drivers and leave you with a PC that won't work - https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/7dsxw3/do_not_use_snappy_driver_installer/

If its old, sometimes you have to get drivers direct from other manufacturers, like for Realtek sound or LAN drivers.


Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller

It's just a Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv5 Notebook PC.

- Device manager states an unknown driver located on Intel(R) ICH9M LPC Interface Controller - 2919

While SDI detects:

- ENE CIR Receiver: Driver available (Driver not installed yet.)
- Intel Device: Updated driver available.
- Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller: Updated driver available.
- Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller: (Like you stated!!) More optimal drivers available, though it's older.
- LSI HDA Modem: Updated driver available which is more optimal.
- IDT High Definition CODEC: Updated driver available.
- Synaptics PS/2 Port Touchpad: Updated driver available which is more optimal.

 

[Brekka]

I might just have to go with SDI since it breaks the drivers down into categories. And Colif, you mentioned Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller which SDI detected!

Device manager finds one driver, and I can't even get that updated. -_-

Edit: Still want to make sure SDI is legit though, crossing my fingers.

 

[Brekka]

Won't definitely use this for my Windows 10 gaming laptop...

What would be an alternate method if the drivers cannot be detected from the actual manufacturer?

 

[Colif]

well, the problem is the device only has Vista & Win 7 drivers and very unlikely those work in Windows 10. These are the sort of cases you have to go with what you can get, as the makers no longer support products made about 10 years ago.

Should be able to use these lan drivers - http://www.realtek.com.tw/Downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&Langid=1&Level=5&PFid=5&PNid=13

I would have left it on Windows 7 as you don't have driver problems then.

 

[Brekka]

Thank you, Colif. You are indeed a master! Also, much appreciated for the site. I'll use those Ian drivers for my Win 10 laptop.

 

[androbourne]

So just wanted to let you know. I downloaded and tried out SDI on my personal PC this weekend.

While it seems to work. It isn't 100% accurate. It also installed drivers for "asmedia usb root hub" which is usb drivers, I believe 3.0 drivers and after a reboot my keyboard no longer worked. I had to reinstall those driver manually.

However it did find 18 out of date drivers and updated properly.

So as I stated before with using 3rd party tools like this for driver installs. Just be careful.

 

[Colif]

Before I knew better I used driver booster twice, both times it broke something and its only saving grace was it creates a system restore point before installing anything so I just roiled system back both times. Last time it replaced my sound drivers leaving me with none at all.

If I were to use them now, I would just use it to see what it suggests. And then confirm you have the hardware it says you do, and then find drivers elsewhewre from actual chip makers.

As time goes by, more and more PC makers have their own software that will do this for you.