So Microsoft, Why Can’t I Get Windows Vista SP1?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Windows Vista SP1 is now available, but not everyone can get it. That includes me, at least on my Dell Inspiron M1710. You’ll recall that Microsoft isn’t going to offer SP1 via Windows Update to anyone who has a “problematic driver.”

But I couldn’t figure out why my M1710 was excluded. A cursory glance at the drivers made me think I shouldn’t be blocked, and I already had all the prerequisite updates. So, I had to look at KB948343 to figure out why. And I had to do it the hard way: searching for each file in the list of problematic drivers.

I found it: I have SigmaTel driver file Stwrt.sys (version 6.10.5343.1). Since version 6.10.5511.0 or earlier is excluded, that’s what’s blocking me. The problem is that Dell has not updated that driver, so I’m stuck.

Here’s my question: why did I have to search for the driver? Microsoft obviously knew I had an issue; why doesn’t Windows Update just tell me?

A user posting a comment at the Microsoft Windows Vista blog post that announced SP1 had the same sort of reaction, saying:

I’m not being offered Vista SP1 on my new Dell XPS M1530 laptop. As far as I can tell I have two pieces of hardware in the problem list, but the driver versions I have seem to be OK.

Sigmatel stwrt.sys - I have 6.10.5614.0 (doc says must be > 6.10.5511.0)

UPEK tcusb.sys - I have 1.9.2.111 (doc says must be > 1.9.2.99)

So my question is, is there any way of finding out exactly what is stopping me from being shown SP1 via Windows Update? I’m tired of looking at driver versions now.

Hey Microsoft, how about a tool that might tell users a) what the problem is, b) where to get a new driver (if possible)? Seems to be that it wouldn’t be that much work for Microsoft (well, maybe, to keep it up to date, but it would really help end user satisfaction).

Update: I’ve been trying to find a upgraded driver for SigmalTel , but so far what I’ve found in Dell’s community forums says that an updated driver will work on a number of systems, but only may work on mine, because it is unlisted as supported. I may have to try to contact the Dell Liason in TX I used previously to see if I can get some help on this.

My understanding is Gateway and HP owners are having similar issues with updating drivers.

Update 2: I discovered there is a driver that should work. It’s this one, R171788.exe. A few comments:

• Why was this posted on the European site, not the U.S. one? The link is from a Dell Community Rep, BTW.

• Why wasn’t this linked in the M1710 driver section?

• Why did they switch to using BIOS codes for drivers? I didn’t know this was compatible because it’s listed as compatible with MXG061 - BIOS code for the M1710. What was wrong with the M1710 name?

Dell and other OEMs have plenty of blame to shoulder; I’m sure they knew about these drivers a long time ago and had plenty of time to update their support pages. However, I still stand by my comment that Microsoft / OEMs should provide a simple tool to find these incompatibilities. I can’t imagine my mother-in-law being able to figure this out - without my help.