XPS 8930, slow shut down

Can I add a couple of points as I have a 8920, 8930 and most recently a 8940.

1) I never shut my pc down overnight, it goes into a low power mode and starts up pretty quickly.

2) you might want to configure your network card, I have found that changing the setting that stops the computer from shutting off the networks cards power whilst sleeping helped with some issues I was having on the 8930.

@Josephus Flavius 

There could have been some Registry changes...

Check #5 and 6 on this link, https://thegeekpage.com/windows-11-slow-shutdown/  as it could help,

Look here too, https://superuser.com/questions/1597269/how-to-debug-windows-shutdown-issues at the answer. Enable the Verbose Shutdown messages. Useful if hung on something. Also the tracing of the Shutdown process.

My wife's XPS8500 (note the last one says W10, but it should work on W11 as well) was taking a long time to shutdown I did those changes. Did speed it up a little, but her problem was it only shutdown when done by a program (back up program when it completed) but not normal shutdown. Nothing helped here much, until one day the problem went away?

I'd also suggest going into Safe Mode and timing the Shutdown. That is down without many device drivers. If it shuts down super fast, it might indicate a driver issue is slowing you down, so consider updating the drivers that you can. Video card would be the first to consider.

Thanks!

Yes, that would help. But each of us has their own use habits. I minimize boot ups by keeping the desktop on all day, but turn it off at night until whatever hour in the morning that need it.

Network card is already configured as you suggested.   But the problem I experienced -- now solved -- was not in going in/out of sleep but during shut-down.

Thanks, RoHe!

Fixed. I updated drivers, including Intel graphics; eliminated a few items from program start up; uninstalled Intel Control Panel; turned off Logitech Options and related processes from auto start.

As I suspected all along, the slow down was probably caused by one or more change of settings that was reset to the developers' default in a recent update, thus eliminating my prior settings.

After I re-enabled fast-boot, it's now booting in 15 seconds and shutting down in 12 seconds -- nicely better than I had before the recent slow down.

Thank you again for all your help!

JF

@RoHe  -- Hi Rohe. This is from awhile back... concerning a slow shutdown problem, and you helped me greatly on it. Sorry for the late follow up, but there have been lots of life interruptions in between.

So, when I shut down now (and I believe either since the changes above were made or shortly thereafter), the screen goes black very quickly. But the PC doesn't power off for longer than a minute, WAY-more than it used to. It's as if the slowness shifted from the beginning (turn off request) to the very end (power off). 

If this is caused by the hibernation settings, as in trying to save work and settings before powering off, I can do without it -- I have regular backups and none of the work is so essential as to justify this.

Thank you again,

JF

@Josephus Flavius - Are you closing all apps before shutting down? Do you have anything scheduled to run at shutdown, like an antiviral scan or some other maintenance function? 

You could try disabling Fast Startup in Windows, as I posted at bottom of page 1 in this thread, and see if that makes a difference.  I have Fast Startup enabled in Windows on my XPS 8930 and the monitor displays "no signal" very quickly, indicating the PC is fully off, when I shut down normally in Windows.

You could also try running the DISM and sfc commands that I posted on page 1 again.

Also open Start>Run>services.msc and see if any Killer or xTend services are enabled. An "Intel Software Extension" got installed by Windows Update not too long ago. That's actually an update for the Killer Ethernet/WiFi on the XPS 8930, and it re-enabled all those services on my XPS 8930...

@RoHe  --Well, again, you solved it! Many thanks!

Disabling the following Killer services did it:

Killer Analytics; Dynamic Bandwidth Management; and Smart AP Selection. Once disabled, total shut-down time is 20-22 seconds (from the time I click Power > Shut Down until the front button light goes off).

Once the services above are disabled, disabling the Killer Network Service itself doesn't make things go any faster.

As for your other questions: For several years now, I have Windows Explorer open when I shut off so it can come on at boot up. Never had a problem using it this way. I'm not aware of scheduled tasks at shut off, but will surely review again. I will test Fast Start Up again and compare how it affects both boot up and shut down. (I have an SSD, so it might not affect boot up time.) I ran the tests you suggested last time and all came back clean.

I still have one remaining problem, which I mentioned earlier on here, but probably worth addressing separately, which I did here:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-Loses-LAN-Connection-after-Wake-from-Sleep/m-p/8303744#M77223

When the desktop awakes from sleep, it takes at least 45 seconds, and sometimes a minute or longer, to find the internet via the LAN connection. When the computer boots up afresh, it takes no time for it to find the internet, only when awaking from sleep. 

Thank you again for all your great help!

JF

@RoHe -- Just a quick follow up to the above:

Without Killer Network Service on, at boot up, it takes about 15-20 seconds for the computer to find the internet. With Network Service Running / Automatic, it finds the internet instantly. 

And, turning Fast Start Up off makes no difference for Shut Down speed, but slows down Start Up by about 12 seconds. So, it's back on.

Would love it if you could take a look at the slow to find internet when Awaking from Sleep problem I linked to above.

Thank you again!

JF

Glad to have helped. Like I said, every time you see an "Intel Software Extension" get installed by Windows Update, be suspicious that Killer and xTend services will be enabled again so check in services.msc.

Just because you ran DISM and sfc previously and got no errors, doesn't mean they won't find errors now, especially when a problem reappears. I run both of them about 1x/month, even when not having problems, but particularly right before I create a backup image of the boot SSD. Sometimes one of them finds/fixes something even though I hadn't noticed a problem.

As for the wake/internet issue... Have you checked your Power settings? Open Device Manager and find the entries for Network adapters, Ethernet and WiFi. Depending on which you use, open that entry and click its Power Management tab. Uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off..."

Exit Device Manager and navigate to the Advanced Power Settings screen for the active Power plan.  On that screen, disable hibernation, hybrid sleep, USB Selective Suspend and PCI Express Link State Management.

If you're using WiFi, on that same Advanced screen, make sure the Wireless Adapter setting is set to maximum performance.

Save the changes to the Power plan and reboot PC...

I'd run DISM and sfc again, before going any further...

@RoHe

Thank you again for all your help!

This is really weird, and unlike any other problem I've had to solve here. Because, the solution that I reported working a couple of days ago is no longer working: Instead of shutting down in 20-22 seconds, it now takes 57 seconds for the button to go off.

AND... When it boots, it takes quite a bit of time to find the internet via ethernet connection -- which before, with Killer Network Services on, was instantaneous. Of course I checked that all my settings remained intact.

I didn't get any Windows or other updates since then. The only thing I ran the evening of 11/18 was an Acronis True Image backup, but that shouldn't affect the adjustments I made.

Separately, the suggestions you made on finding the internet faster didn't help. Most of the settings were already in place as you suggested. I added a few more -- which now make me wonder whether these extra changes explain the longer shut down. I will review again.

Sorry for the length of this post... It's quite befuddling.

Thank you again,

JF

@RoHe  Right. Ran them both. DISM clear, no errors found. sfc found and fixed errors. No unfixed errors.

After rebooting, shut-down was 44seconds from clicking Shut Down til the light in the button turned off. Second test came at 35 seconds. Better, but not as good as 18-21s I experienced a couple of days ago.

It took 39 seconds to find the internet after a fresh boot.

I'm beginning to think that previously it was fast (immediate!) because, in addition to Ethernet, I had wi-fi on which might have been the instant connection. Not sure how to test this -- other than the obvious: turn wi-fi off. Still, I would like to have instantaneous Ethernet connection, without having to turn on wi-fi on this desktop that is wired to a Fios Extender.  And have a faster shut-off too...

Many Thanks!

JF

Are you still leaving Windows File Explorer open? Try closing it before shutting down and see how fast the shutdown is and then how fast the Ethernet connection is made when you boot, before you open File Explorer or anything else.

If you haven't already done it, disable/uninstall SupportAssist, Dell Update, (Dell) Fusion etc.

If both WiFi and Ethernet are enabled, and PC is hard-wired into the router, I don't think you're going to be able to access WiFi directly.  On my XPS 8930 with both WiFi and Ethernet enabled at same time, the connection always defaults to Ethernet.  Unless I manually switch them once I'm at the desktop, the connection is always going to be via Ethernet, regardless of how quickly the WiFi card can connect to my home router.  So enabling WiFi on your PC isn't likely going to make any difference on how fast you get a connection via Ethernet.

Does your router go into a sleep/low power mode and has to wake up when PC links to it and then the router has to get a (new) IP address from your ISP?  Is there a lot of traffic on your ISP's service in the area so it's taking longer for the router to get an IP address (assuming you don't have a static IP address)?

What else is active on your network when you boot the PC? Does the router have QoS settings that are giving other devices higher priority and bandwidth over the PC when it's booting up?

Have you scanned thoroughly for malware lately?

But honestly, do those few seconds difference really matter...?

@RoHe  Thanks again for all your help.

I updated Dell Update Windows Universal Application and Killer-PCIe Controller Driver (both Recommended).

My Shut-Down is about 36-39 seconds, 33 seconds with Windows Explorer off. Start-up remains the same at 17-19 seconds. Agree that in the bigger scheme of life problems, this should be deemed acceptable.

After years of deleting Dell SupportAssist, I now have it working, because it's functioning well and doesn't fail when updating. Do you think removing it might help with faster shut-down? How do I just "disable" it, so I can test?

Agree with your description of how WiFi should behave in the presence of Ethernet. The only reason I enabled it was that WiFi works 5 seconds after Wake; Ethernet takes a whole minute. And when the switching works well (not always!), I get WiFi after 5 seconds and then it switches on its own to Ethernet. Less disruptive than having to wait an entire minute -- which still remains the problem. I'm assuming that this happens because the Wifi doesn't "see" Ethernet as active so it comes on first. If Ethernet were found active, WiFi shouldn't come on.

But I agree wholeheartedly that this shouldn't be necessary, or that it may not normally behave this way, as you explained above, but it does here. I will continue to test this.

I don't think it's because of the Fios Router or the Extender to which the PC is hard-wired. And there is no QoS. And I don't think the Router or Extender go to sleep, surely not when it comes to WiFi activity which goes on and off on multiple devices, each doing relatively brief activities (email, articles online, but not long video watching) throughout the day. So I don't think it's device competition that's causing the PC Ethernet to be left behind. 

Bitdefender is on continuously, and updating hourly. The various scheduled scans have never found anything.

And, the issue with internet access after Wake is relatively new. 3-4 months ago we lived in a different house, also with Fios service, and didn't experience the problem. If you think I should disaable/remove SupportAssist, I'd be happy to do so.

Again, many thanks!

JF