OEM vs Device Manufacturer drivers  

Hi guys,

I'm having some BSOD issue, I suspect, they'd be due to some drivers stuff and all.

So anyway, I saw Device manufacturers had more updated drivers then the OEM (Acer Laptop here), do you think these generic drivers are worth a try or can they be harmful?

Thanks

phrozenflame said:

Hi guys,

I'm having some BSOD issue, I suspect, they'd be due to some drivers stuff and all.

So anyway, I saw Device manufacturers had more updated drivers then the OEM (Acer Laptop here), do you think these generic drivers are worth a try or can they be harmful?...

It depends on the manufacturer. Realtek drivers, OEM or not, are the same. As they add new chips, the software is expanded to cover them. The OEM's don't update their drivers for a particular model, unless they are aware of a serious problem which the update fixes. You can always look at (unzip) the update to see what the fixes are. See the readme file.

Not sure if your BSOD is driver related.

It won't hurt to try the manufacturer's drivers although it may be that the OEM drivers are configured differently.

Create a restore point first or roll back to the old driver via Device Manager if the new driver creates more problems.

If the manufacturer has released new drivers, there's always a reason for it....either to include newer hardware (like Nvidia's all inclusive drivers do) or to solve and issue. Sometimes, it's both. My opinion is, if there's a new driver, it is worth a shot if you suspect an issue with a previous one.

Britton30 said:

I don't think they would be harmful, but may not work properly. Some computer makers have custom drivers for their hardware.

For your BSOD issue, follow this tutorial. https://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-d...tml#post836073 Those people are generally busy, so be patient. :)

Thanks, I've already posted my BSOD issues here and awaiting feedback:
https://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-d...64-bsod-2.html

And thanks everyone for the input! Today's been a good day so far, no random shutdowns/restarts since I uninstalled synaptics that came with my laptop drivers cd. But that means typing is a pain koz touchpad is sensitive :x

You must ask your OEM and the other device manufacturers separately. If they both agree on which driver you should use, you're all set. Now, if your OEM recommends you use their driver and the other device manufacturers recommend that you use THEIR driver... you have yourself a tricky situation. Sometimes, it's better to go with the OEM-customizable driver regardless of the release date.

In many cases, the manufacturer has generic drivers that may very well be NEWER but less efficient and may actually reduce performance if not completely disable some components and features of the hardware. Don't judge a book by its cover--don't judge a driver by its release date/version number.

For example, I own a DELL computer. My DELL computer has an INTEL SATA/AHCI Controller. INTEL recommends that I use the OEM's (Dell) drivers rather than INTEL's drivers REGARDLESS of version date. Why? Because DELL may have customized the driver and INTEL's driver is just a generic version even if it might be newer.

I'm going to listen to INTEL's recommendation and stay with DELL's driver...

"Newer isn't always better:" Newer isn't always better when it comes to Windows XP drivers - TechRepublic (or any WINDOWS OS for that matter...)