It is useful to classify arithmetic functions $f(n)$ involving the primes into two classes: those whose Dirichlet series involves the zeta function (or something similar, such as a Dirichlet L-function) in the numerator, and those that involve zeta functions in the denominator.  Examples of the former type include the constant function 1 and the various divisor sum functions.  Examples of the latter type include the Mobius and von Mangoldt functions.  The functions of the latter type are much harder to control, because by their nature they are very sensitive to the location of zeroes of the zeta function, and in particular are sensitive to the truth of statements such as the Riemann hypothesis.  Functions of the former type, by contrast, pay almost no attention to the location of these zeroes.

Because of this difference in sensitivity to zeta zeroes, it is highly unlikely that one can rely solely on asymptotics for sums of functions of the first type to conclude useful asymptotics on functions of the second type, and the series expansions which connect the two are likely to have very poor convergence properties (much as Taylor series such as $\log(1-x) = -x - x^2/2 - x^3/3 - \ldots$ must necessarily have poor convergence properties near the singularity x=1).

On the other hand, there are certainly useful hyperbola-type identities for sums involving functions of the second type, such as [Vaughan's identity][1].  The catch is that the sums that come out of such identities, if they are to be useful, must still involve at least one function of the second type, since one cannot hope for the influence of zeta zeroes to magically disappear (unless the identity is so badly convergent that one can hide this influence inside the accumulated error terms in the asymptotics; but in such cases, the identity is likely to be useless for the purpose of producing asymptotics).

It is also possible to use methods of sieve theory to *upper bound* functions of the second type, such as $\Lambda$, by divisor sums which are basically of the first type, and indeed such upper bound sieves can be very useful in analytic number theory.  However, they do not seem capable, by themselves, of producing asymptotics for functions of the second type (although with the addition of non-trivial ingredients outside of sieve theory, this is occasionally possible, e.g. with the [Friedlander-Iwaniec theorem][2]).


  [1]: http://www.proofwiki.org/wiki/Vaughan's_Identity
  [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedlander%E2%80%93Iwaniec_theorem