Windows boots too loud with AC511 Soundbar

I have a U2415 monitor and the AC511 soundbar, Windows 7 Pro 64bit. Everything is properly connected (soundbar to monitor, monitor to pc) and functioning. My issue is this: Regardless of the last position/level of the sound when I shutdown my pc, it reboots with the volume level at 50% - LOUD! If I detach the AC511, the sound level remains where I left it when rebooting. How can I keep the last sound level when rebooting?

Not exactly a solution to your problem, but a workaround: in my case, my AC511 *was* holding the same volume level between reboots, but the only levels that resulted in reasonable volumes for me were between about 0% and 10%. Anything else was WAY too loud. Made it kind of frustrating adjusting the volume since I needed to be very careful.

The line out jack on my Dell monitor itself (p2715q) which I use for headphones is the same: if I forgot and switched audio over to the headphones with anything over 10% setup there, and the headphones already on my head when making the switch, it was so loud I would turn it off as quick as possible and my ears would still be ringing for a few minutes after.

The solution I found was to install a free software package Equalizer APO, which injects itself into the sound driver stack and you can set a pre-amp level to decrease the level (e.g. for me pre-amp of -18 dB makes things a lot more sane). So you could do the same: use pre-amp level to setup things so that 50% at least isn't blasting way too loud after you reboot.

Chris - 

I followed your advice and it seems to have resolved the issue.

It's unfortunate though, that a new monitor with extra USB ports built in can't properly take advantage of this.

All the instructions for the Sound bar are the same - plug sound bar into monitor, monitor into PC.

So now I lose another USB port on my PC, plus I have yet another cable running from my monitor to my pc.

It works, but it's frustrating to lose the convenience I thought I would get.