Should I update Intel system drivers in W Update?

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I just checked Windows Update and there are 2 optional updates showing. They are both Intel system updates as follows:

INTEL – system – 3/13/2016 12:00:00AM – 11.0.0.1010 Intel system driver update released in March 2016 published 23/12/2016

Intel – system – 10/3/2016 12:00:00AM – 10.1.1.38 Intel driver update released in October 2016 published 01/01/2017

I have read lots of times that you shouldn’t just update drivers but if these are the latest shouldn’t I use them? If the answer is yes, should I run both or just the latest one?

I’m running a Lenovo desktop with W7 Home Premium Intel(R) core i5 – 2320CPU@3.00GHz

Any advice would be appreciated thank you.

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Sometimes Windows Update is the method used to issue system updates, but if in doubt, create a system image onto external media first before installing them, although Win 7 should create a restore point before their installation – although you can’t always rely on restore points remaining or being created in Win 7.

If you use an external HDD then you’ll also need to create a System Repair disk to boot up with to navigate to the recovery environment to select restore from an image I created earlier.

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I have ignored all Intel driver updates because mine runs without problems.

cheers, Paul

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There is a warning on Woody’s site about all these particular Intel drivers showing up on WU.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3153033/microsoft-windows/dont-install-this-patch-intel-system-8192016-120000-am-101280.html

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I ran the Intel Driver Update Utility and no such driver showed up in the results.

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I just checked Windows Update and there are 2 optional updates showing. They are both Intel system updates as follows:

…

Intel – system – 10/3/2016 12:00:00AM – 10.1.1.38 Intel driver update released in October 2016 published 01/01/2017

I know this post is a few months old, but I’ve been having a problem with my computer (64bit Win7) for a few months and I highly suspect this “update” (v10.1.1.38) to be the cause.

About a month ago, I suddenly can no longer Shutdown/Reboot from Windows (I must use the buttons on my PC to complete the task.) Note, problem does not occur in Safe Mode or Linux.

I’ve found that if I disable the driver for my video card (GTX670 in a PCIe slot) or ONE particular driver related to my TV tuner (ATI HDTV Wonder in a PCI slot), everything works fine again. But neither (obviously) is not an acceptable solution.

With some more experimenting, I discovered that if I rollback one or both of these Intel Device drivers, I can Shutdown/Reboot ONCE. And upon returning, if I put BACK those drivers, I can Shutdown/Reboot ONCE more. Extremely odd.

Checking my “Windows Update” History, these were the last two hardware related updates installed back in January. As noted by others, no KB number and no information on what changes they may have made or how to undo them (as I mentioned, rolling back the driver only helps one time.)

Finding this post is the first evidence I’ve seen that this update may be connected to my problem. Does anyone know what changes this update makes and how to undo them?

TIA.

46996-Intel-Port-5

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Also posted at https://communities.intel.com/thread/112562

Please see Rule 14

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Also posted at https://communities.intel.com/thread/112562

Please see Rule 14

Sorry for the duplicate post. It was unintentional. I was following up on another similar post.

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I suggest looking at How to roll back a bad driver update which mentions that specific Intel driver.

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I suggest looking at How to roll back a bad driver update which mentions that specific Intel driver.

Thanks, but I tried a rollback and it didn’t solve my issue.

It looks like I’m going to have to rely on my last resort: restoring a backup from last July. It works, but has a few issues… most notably something causing a 90 second black screen before the login screen appears. No idea why and not sure how to fix, but at least once I’m in Windows, everything works properly. (I’ll also have to reinstall some software and update my menus/desktop.)

Thx.

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Did you try the Intel Driver Update Utility as recommended at my last link?

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Did you try the Intel Driver Update Utility as recommended at my last link?

Yes. It had been recommended to me in another thread about a week ago.

It gives me an error when I try to run it (even with AV and all background tasks & startup apps disabled.) So I instead restored the original drivers by hand and it didn’t resolve the issue (other than the “one boot” oddity.)

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Before you go back to July, look for the 2 drivers on the Intel site. There may be newer versions there, which might be an improvement.

It’s generally better practice to get new drivers from the hardware manufacturer rather than via Windows Update. Nothing against MS, but their version is often older than the latest due to the extra delay involved between release and incorporation into WU.

Another general good practice is not to update drivers unless you have a clear specific reason to do so. They’re very tricky bits of software, especially for the crucial hardware like CPUs, chipsets, and media cards.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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Before you go back to July, look for the 2 drivers on the Intel site. There may be newer versions there, which might be an improvement.

…

Another general good practice is not to update drivers unless you have a clear specific reason to do so. They’re very tricky bits of software, especially for the crucial hardware like CPUs, chipsets, and media cards.

I’m having my doubts this is exclusively a “driver” issue now since rolling back the drivers only “fix” the issue for a single boot (and no, the driver is not updating on reboot.)

My suspicion now is that a sloppy “Windows Update” is at fault. MS likes to install WU patches on computers that don’t need them (intended for people who plan to upgrade to 10, etc.) Problem is, there’s no “undo”.

I’m reluctant to go back to my July backup for another reason I forgot about: my Internet connection was upgraded since then and didn’t work when I tried it. I don’t know if getting it to work again would be a problem (and I’ve had enough of them for now.)

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Do you have a restore point older than the problem? You could try updating or rolling back the video card (GTX670) or TV tuner (ATI HDTV Wonder) drivers.

Mark

Win 11 home - 24H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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Do you have a restore point older than the problem? You could try updating or rolling back the video card (GTX670) or TV tuner (ATI HDTV Wonder) drivers.

Hey Mark.

Unfortunately, this problem reared it’s ugly head in January and it was February before I realized it was serious. Those Restore Points are long gone (my tiny 120gb SSD only keeps at most one or two.)

Rolling back the nVidia drivers was no help (and there are no older/newer drivers for the tuner. I’m fortunate the 64bit Vista drivers I found years ago even work with Win7.)

I tried once more to run the Intel Driver Installer Utility, got the same error as before and noticed it was saying the “Windows Installer Service” was “not running”. So I manually activated it from the CLI and got a tiny bit further only to get a different error telling me the “Base Filtering Engine” service was disabled.

Long story short, I made things worse trying to restart the “Base Filtering Engine” service. All attempts to restart it reported “Access Denied”. Trying to change the Permissions also reported “Access Denied”.

I finally gave up, took snapshots of my desktop, all my menus and my Program Files” folders, and just restored my 8 month old backup then spent the new few hours getting it to work smoothly (worked great 8 months ago but things change.)

After about 30 minutes, I was able to get the Internet connection working again, and while it still has a few small problems (like that annoying 81 second pause before the Login Menu I mentioned above and my TV EPG won’t update), I basically have a working computer once again.

Some things will just have to remain a mystery. :unsure:

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Glad to hear you have a working computer again.

Mark

Win 11 home - 24H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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Thanks. I do wish I knew what caused the problem so I know how to avoid it from happening again.

The only precausion I’ve made: Disabled “Windows Update” from automatically installing updates w/o my OK. Hopefully, that’s enough. (One of the first updates it attempted upon restoring the backup were those suspicious Intel drivers.)

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Addressing the original question: I would never do a hardware driver update via Windows Update if what I had now was working fine.

If things weren’t working fine on my computer (i.e. if there was a problem with the driver currently installed), I would not use Windows Update to get it unless I had no other way of getting it.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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This was the first severe problem I’ve ever encountered with WU.

Things seems to have been rushing downhill with WU ever since MS starting pushing the Windows 10 virus on people.

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