In some cases, SMART may appear to get stuck repeatedly installing the same driver update.
Symptoms
- SMART continues to detect the same driver update.
- The driver appears to install successfully, but is then detected again.
- The device may loop on the driver update step and not move on to key injection.
Cause
SMART uses the Windows Update API to identify and install required device drivers.
Occasionally, Windows Update may report that a driver is still required even after that same driver has already been downloaded and installed. This can cause SMART to repeatedly attempt the same update.
This is usually caused by how Windows Update identifies the driver package on that specific device. It does not necessarily mean the driver failed to install, and it is not normally caused by SMART using the wrong driver.
What SMART Is Doing About This
We are working on a SMART Client improvement to better recognise this type of repeated driver detection and skip the duplicate update automatically in a future release.
Workaround
For now, we recommend checking which driver is looping and reinstalling it manually through Windows.
- Open Windows Update on the device.
- Check which driver update is repeatedly being offered.
- Open Device Manager.
- Find the related device or driver.
- Uninstall the device or driver completely.
- Restart the device if prompted.
- Run Windows Update or SMART again and allow the driver stage to run again.
If You Need to Continue Production
If you need to keep processing the device and do not want the driver loop to block key injection, you can temporarily bypass the driver installer/check depending on your SMART setup.
- On Pay As You Go, SMART will still check for missing drivers. If Enable Driver Check is switched off, the technician can continue to injection even if drivers are still detected.
- On Essentials or Pro, you can use the driver installer controls and automation settings to temporarily skip the driver installation stage where appropriate.
Only bypass the driver stage if you are happy to complete the remaining driver work manually afterwards.
When to Contact SMART Support
If the same driver continues to loop after uninstalling it from Device Manager and rerunning the driver stage, contact SMART Support with:
- The device make and model.
- The driver name shown in Windows Update.
- A screenshot of the update loop, if possible.