Difference between SDM (Software Download Manager) & HPSA (Hewlett Packard Software Assistant)

[roses2fr]

(Not really sure if this is the right section of this community to post this, but I'll try anyway....)

Please can someone tell me the difference between SDM (Softpaq Download Manager) v 4.4.0.0 and HP Support Assistant v 8.7.50.3, when using Win 7 Ult 32-bit on a HP6715b.

SDM tells me there is a critical update for the battery check software SP49129, but when I try and download/install it, it tells me it has to be upgraded from HPSA.

So I go to HPSA and click the update button but no update for Battery Check software appears. I click on Diagnostics/Battery Check and the test runs satisfactorily, but the 'About' section gives no information about what version it is. There seems to possibility ANYWHERE within HPSA to update Battery Check.

Please explain.

Thank you.

[roses2fr]

I tried contacting HP support but to be honest I find them next to useless.

Here is their first response:

SDM is the most preferred tool, because it delivers more updates than the HPSA does.

You can use the SDM to update all the missing drivers.

Regards,

Barath P

[roses2fr]

My response to that:

That does not answer my question!!!!

Did you even read my original Email???

My issue is that SDM tells me there is critical battery update. But when I try to download/install it, it says I have to do it from within HPSA.

However, HPSA reports there are no new drivers needed.

So is this update critical or not? 

Why are both programs giving conflicting information?

[roses2fr]

And their reply:

"Please be informed that the the unit is end of life and HP does not recommend updating BIOS/ drivers  on this machine, however if you are facing performance issue on this machine, please contact your reseller to upgrade to a newer HP unit to better performance."

Can someone from HP senior management explain to me why you are paying these support staff if they cannot answer such simple questons with straightforward answers.

[Joel_R]

SoftPaq Downloan Manager is a tool that is used to download software updates (drivers, firmware, etc.) on HP Business PCs.

HP Support Assistant is an automatated tool that can be used to keep a HP system (commercial and consumer) to troubleshoot issues, and automate fixes.  One feature of Support Assistant is a battery check.  Several years ago there was a seperate battery check utility.  SoftPaq SP49129 is 4.0.9.3 version of this utility.  However, as I mentioned above, the battery check feature is now included in HP Support Assistant. 

Normally commerical customers use SoftPaq Download Manager to download SoftPaqs and then use some management software to distribute and install the SoftPaqs.  HP Support Assistant runs as a service, in the background, to manage a system locally.

To execute the battery check using HP Support Assistant do the following:

1) Open Support Assistant

2) Click on the blue Support tab at the top of Support Assistant.

3) Click on "My notebook".  This should launch some analysis of your unit.

4) Click on the link for "Troubleshooting and fixes".

5) You should now see a large number of items that you can select.  There are "One click fixes", "Guided troubleshooting" and other Diasgnostic links shown on the page.

6) In the diagnostic section, click on link for "Battery Check".

7) The Battery Check utlity will now execute and report the status of you battery.

The HP 6715b notebook ended support in 2013 due to production ending in 2008.

Hopefully this has helped with your questions.

Joel

[roses2fr]

Even though you say you are an HP employee, it seems that you are no better than the support staff who previously answered me.

You said:

"6) Click on Battery Check on the Diagnostic section on the right side of the screen.

7) The Battery Check utlity will now execute and report the status of you battery.

6) [sic]  Click on Battery "

but if you had read my original post carefully, you will have understood that I already did that, and no "critical update" in HPSA was reported.

My main query which you FAILED to answer was why are the two software packages giving conflicting information? What is the point of SDM reporting an update and letting you download it if it then decides it doesn't want to install it???? All of that is completely nonsensical to me.

Updated situation:

That first post was written about an HDD with Win 7 Ult 32-bit. Since that time, I have upgraded my system with a brand new fresh install of Win 7 Ult 64-bit on an SSD. The old HDD is attached as an external drive so that I can access all my old folders and data.

But the problem persists. D/L'ed and installed SDM 4.4.0 SP87158 and the critical battery update still shows. Go into HPSA (SP93097), click on updates, and no battery update critical or otherwise is found. Why??

Please, someone else apart from Joel_R respond, as I'm sorry to say I don't trust his judgement or technical knowledge on this topic.

And don't end your posts with banal statements such as "The HP 6715b notebook ended support in 2013 due to production ending in 2008." I'm perfectly aware of that, thank you very much, but the fact is it's the only laptop I can afford, and therefore I have to keep using it, thus I need support and continued technical assistance which I believe HP still have a duty to give.

And anyhow, the issue I reported is probably completely UNRELATED to the particular model I have - it's just as likely to happen to an owner of a current still-within-support machine.

[roses2fr]

However, what HPSA *DID* find were two other updates, viz. Broadcome Wireless LAN & Ethernet Drivers (the latter for
XP 32-bit - huh???) which I duly installed. But during my set up of W7 I had repeatedly performed Windows Updates
until 'No updates found' appeared.

So my next question is: why does HPSA find updates whereas Windows does not? Why
doesn't HP release these drivers to MS?

[Joel_R]

I'm sorry you found my response lacking.  I now see you wanted to know why SDM and HPSA are reporting different updates for your system.  I originally thought you wanted to know the technical differences between SDM and HPSA and how to execute a battery test.  Thanks for catching my grammatical error with step #6.  I have a editing issue when I was typing my original response.  I have made an edit in the event someone else wants to see the steps used to execute a battery test in HPSA.

I see in your last post that HPSA reported some "XP updates" vailable for network drivers.  I will report this to HPSA team since XP updates should not be showing up as available for a Win 7 system.

Keep posting questions on the forum as I am sure there are other 6715b users out there running Win 7.  The forums are a great place to share information. 

 Joel

[roses2fr]

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@Joel_R wrote:

I see in your last post that HPSA reported some "XP updates" vailable for network drivers.  I will report this to HPSA team since XP updates should not be showing up as available for a Win 7 system.

I think that would be a good idea, as that is indeed a strange anomaly, not only the wrong OS, but the wrong bit depth as well.

Even more surprising was that it installed without issue.

I would still like an answer from the HP team about why HPSA is necessary, seeing as all the relevant updates should be available on MS Update. It seems rather pointless and time consuming to have to update my system in two different ways.

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[roses2fr]

"I would still like an answer from the HP team about why HPSA is necessary,"

Bump!! Any one else from the community have any good or bad experiences of HPSA & SDM???