XPS 8940, Realtek causing slow boot

Question

My brand new XPS8940 was taking 4-5 minutes to boot. It appears that the issue is is being caused by the startup app "Realtek HD Audio Universal Service". When this is disabled, the computer boots normally and I can't find any lost functionality.

Does anyone know for what this application is needed? Is there anything I can do to address the slow boot without disabling it?

RoHe · Answer

That's probably the driver/software for Realtek audio on your motherboard. So you may not have any or only poor sound quality when that's disabled.

May need to uninstall Realtek Audio in Device Manager and then re-install it from Dell's support page. NOTE: Be sure to manually set a System Restore point before uninstalling Realtek Audio, to be safe.

XPS_Man · Answer

Reinstall Driver Realtek HD audio This is a most command application found on most dell systems and certainly shouldn't impact boot timings.

SuperPlutarch · Answer

There are some other discussions on the topic that took me forever (and two system restores) to fin. The Realtek driver from Sep 27, 2021 is garbage and for me resulted in several lost weekends of troubleshooting. I am on an XPS 9500 so may not be ‘apples to apples’ but my 3+ minutes of boot time on the Dell logo went to 20 seconds after I rolled back the driver.

Come on Dell… how can you not tell people and yank this update from the support page? So many lost hours of our lives.

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XPS 8940, Realtek causing slow boot

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