XPS 8930, slow boot after enabling TPM

Thanks for the warning.  I've avoided 21H2 so far.  Been contemplating doing the upgrade to Windows 11, but have that sinking feeling that the bad driver would be back again if and when I do.

I had the same issue as everyone else here with slow restart and boot times on my 8930. Rolling back the Realtek Audio driver in Device Manager solved it, but it didn't solve the driver being reupdated via Windows Update. There is a way to prevent driver updates via Winaero with the option in the Winaero app to disable Windows 10 from updating drivers. Here's the link to their explanation, along with ways to disable driver updates without installing Winaero:

https://winaero.com/how-to-turn-off-driver-updates-in-windows-update-in-windows-10/

Before using this update fix and after rolling back the Realtek Audio driver, Dell Update never suggested upgrading the driver. Windows Update did. After using the fix, I upgraded to 21H2, and the Realtek driver is still the older one (6.0.9107.1). I have no idea if this Windows Update fix affects the Dell Update app.

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@Vinnie T wrote:
Thanks for the warning. I've avoided 21H2 so far. Been contemplating doing the upgrade to Windows 11, but have that sinking feeling that the bad driver would be back again if and when I do.

Probably...OK, definitely that driver will be back. After all, Microsoft knows better than any of us...

I thought for a moment this was the answer to my slow-boot woes, but I find that my Rollback Driver button is greyed out on the Realtek driver. Is there any way around this? If not, can I manually install the older driver version? I guess it may be greyed out 'cos I just updated to W11?

Thanks, S

@Stuart Greig - What version of the Realtek driver got installed when you updated to Win 11? 

The audio driver rollback button is grayed out now simply because the driver that's installed now is the first Realtek driver version installed in Win 11 on your PC, and there were no previous versions of Realtek driver installed in Win 11.  You'll see exactly the same grayed out rollback button for your other drivers too.

Here's the link for a prior version of the Realtek driver that works on the XPS 8930 running Win 10. Dell doesn't list any audio drivers for Win 11 on their support page so I'll have to ask my Dell tech contacts about that.

Since the driver I linked is for Win 10, I strongly suggest you manually create a system restore point before uninstalling Realtek in Device Manager. Then -without rebooting- install the one you download from that link.

FWIW, I updated to Win 10 21H2 last week and it installed the problem Realtek driver again. And, the rollback button was grayed out for same reasons mentioned above. Fortunately I had a saved copy of a prior version of the Realtek driver, so I uninstalled the new one in Device Manager and installed the old one. Now back to ~10 sec boot times (shown in Task Manager).

Post back and let us know what happens after you install the older driver. And keep in mind, you need to re-configure Waves MaxxAudio Pro for your audio outputs every time a Realtek driver gets installed...

I will try for this. Thanks.

Hi Ron, thanks for coming back - I've had the slow boot issue for a while, I think the upgrade to W11 just greyed out the rollback option, I think the latest driver was already installed when I upgraded.

Now I'm confused though! I had v6.0.9107.1 of the Realtek driver installed and my boot times were close to 2 mins. I downloaded the driver you linked to, uninstalled the Realtek device from Device Manager (and checked the uninstall driver box) and then installed the downloaded driver. I rebooted and happy days... boot time back to just a few seconds! However, when I looked at the Realtek device it's still showing v6.0.9107.1 of the driver!

I've done a few reboots and still fast boot times, so not sure what's happened here? Not complaining, my problem is sorted, thanks to you! But still confused nonetheless.

Thanks, S

@Stuart Greig  - Windows Update secretly force installed v6.0.9205.1 on the XPS 8930 running Win 10. So chances are you had 9205 which causes slow boot times, even before you updated to Win 11. And the update to Win 11 likely installed 9205.1 again.

Realtek v6.0.9107.1 was the immediate predecessor to v6.0.9205.1 and works OK. Since I only provided a link to Realtek driver 8248, which preceded 9107, I don't know what link you used.  IIRC, somebody else posted a link to the support page for a different Dell PC model that listed Realtek driver 9107.1. So maybe that's what you used..?

Either way, glad your boot times are back to "normal" again. And do yourself a favor: save the downloaded file of whichever driver you installed because sooner or later Microsoft is likely going to do this to us again, and again, and...

Thank you so much! After six months of agony, you have finally solved one of my pesky problems!

@AndRieYN  Glad that helped!

Hi all, got an update concerning this thread.  I just installed Windows 11 which also reinstalled RealTek driver v6.0.9205.1 that previously caused the slow boot issue.  I was fully expecting this and figured I'd have to delete the new driver and reinstall the previous "good" version.  Low and behold, v6.0.9205.1 appears to be working correctly and not causing the slow boot issue after the upgrade to Windows 11.  I'm getting the same boot speed as I was before the upgrade to Windows 11.  Did Realtek fix the problem with the driver or does this driver work properly with Windows 11 installed and not 10?  Can't guarantee these results for anyone else, but the latest driver is working OK on my 8930.

I thought the same thing that a fixed version of the driver would have gotten a new number. No real explanation why it works with 11, but I’m not going to complain ; ) Unless Dell corrected something specifically with the 8930 since the slow boot problem wasn’t a universal problem.

Max Audio Pro was installed with default settings and properly ID’d speakers and basic settings without any intervention from me.  I did change some of the playback settings to suit my tastes, but that’s it.

As far as Windows 11, the install went smoothly and it appears to work well.  Just need a little time to familiarize myself with the new look.  All the basics work like Windows 10.

@Vinnie T  - Your guesses are as good as anyone else's...

No real way to know the answer. Could be they fixed the Realtek driver, but I would assume they would have changed the version number.

Or, it installs and/or works properly in Win 11, but not in Win 10,

Or, Microsoft fixed issues with something else that caused problems when this particular version of Realtek driver was installed...

Out of curiosity, did Waves MaxxAudio Pro get installed and properly configured after the upgrade to Win 11?

And FWIW, I'm still running Win 10 with Realtek 6.0.9107.1 on my XPS 8930. The most recent version Dell is offering is still back at 6.0.1.8248. 

Another possibility is the previous Realtek driver needed to be fully uninstalled before v6.0.9205.1 is clean installed, rather than just installed "on top" of some prior version.

Updating to Win 11 essentially did that for you.

Glad your update went smoothly, but I'm still sticking to Win 10...