Support Assist not updating drivers on new Windows 11 computer.

Question

I bought myself and my mom new Inspirons 16 5625 with Windows 11.  On both computers, when running the scans in Support Assist, neither will recognize new driver updates.  It says, 'Driver Detection not available.'  Also get the same message when running it through the website, even though the drivers list on the website will show drivers that have not been updated.  I have reinstalled Support Assist on both computers, Dell attempted to solve this on one of them, and all they could tell me was that drivers were up to date.  This is not the message that it used to say when drivers were up to date.  Well, today I checked the driver webpage and there were driver updates listed that Support Assist did not capture because 'driver detection is not available.'  This needs to be fixed.

FastEddie3 · Answer

I have reinstalled the alienware support tool and the dell support assist and neither of them work.  Both failed.

lmacri · Answer

Hi KimberlyAdkins:

See employee DELL-Chris M's 10-Jun-2024 SupportAssist, "Hardware scan fails", "We ran into a problem" about known issues with the current SupportAssist v4.0.3. DELL-Chris M advises that "The easiest workaround for now is to uninstall SA and await the new version".

If you haven't already done so you could try installing the Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 utility listed on your Inspiron 16 5625 support page at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/inspiron-16-5625-laptop/drivers. Click the This Device tab and enter your unique Service Tag to display a filtered list of Dell software and drivers are compatible with your system components, and if Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 is still displayed then it should install correctly on your computer. Release notes and a user guide for this utility are available at https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/dell-update/docs.

Just be aware that:

At present, Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x may not run correctly if the buggy SupportAssist v4.0.3 is also installed, so it may be necessary to uninstall SupportAssist v4.0.3 and re-boot BEFORE you install Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x.
Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x will only check for available updates that match your unique Service Tag. I do not have SupportAssist installed on my Inspiron 15 5584 (I found it was too buggy and consumed too much CPU and RAM) so I run the F12 ePSA (enhanced Pre-boot System Assessment) from my Dell BIOS if I need to run a hardware diagnostic.
Dell is discontinuing support for Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x in a few months - see my 09-May-2024 topic Support for Dell Update / Alienware Update Ending December 2024.

*** WARNING: I would strongly advise that you do NOT use a Dell utility like SupportAssist v4.x or Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.x to update your BIOS, since any glitch during the update process could leave your system unbootable. When I update my BIOS I normally save the .exe installer offered on my Inspiron 15 5584 support page to my desktop and then right-click and choose "Run as Administrator", but the safer method is to flash your BIOS from a removable USB stick.

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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4894 * Firefox v131.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24080.9-1.1.24080.9 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.11.133-1.0.5048 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0

SupportAssist for PCs

Support Assist not updating drivers on new Windows 11 computer.

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