XPS 8940, replacement motherboard, slow boot

Does machine still pass ePSA Diagnostics ? (on F12 boot menu)

Have you tried removing all peripherals except for monitor, wired keyboard and wired mouse?

If so, sounds like you might need to report it and see about having them come back and repair your computer properly.

Not sure about 6-seconds, and RAID/AHCI is not a setting to be casually messing with, but ...

XPS-8940 is UEFI-based. Correct ... when booting from a SSD (especially a NVMe-SSD) the boot time should around 20 seconds (to usable desktop).

That's 10 seconds to login-in screen, and then another 10 seconds to finish loading Windows (and Processes) after password is entered.

I need to revise my complaint. Shutdown takes ~80 seconds and boot takes ~45 seconds.

I ran the bios diagnostics last night with zero errors. All peripherals are disconnected. The only things connected are the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Another revision.

Booting from a power off condition is ~25 seconds.

Rebooting is ~100 seconds. It seems like the shutdown before the reboot is eating up the time.

Nothing but Windows is running.

it is probably Windows 10 getting more cumbersome trying to update.  you can try a clean install of Windows 10 on the same hdd (which will erase all data) or a test hdd, then disable auto update in group policy which may prevent OS from auto downloading and updating every time you boot it.  

You have to reconfigure Windows to use AHCI before BIOS is changed from RAID to AHCI. So with BIOS set to RAID:

1. Boot to desktop and open a Cmd prompt window, run as administrator
   
   
2. Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Safe Mode the next time you reboot:
   bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal and press Enter
   
   
3. Restart the computer and tap F2 to enter BIOS setup
   
   
4. Change SATA operation mode from RAID to AHCI
   
   
5. Save the change and exit Setup and Windows will automatically boot in Safe Mode
   
   
6. Open a Cmd prompt window again, as in step #1
   
   
7. Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Normal Mode the next time you reboot:
   bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot and press Enter
   
   
8. Reboot and Windows will automatically start with AHCI enabled

EDIT: You can't compare cold boot times with Restart boot times from inside Windows.  When you cold boot, Windows uses the Fast Startup file saved on the boot drive to load things quickly. When you Restart from inside Windows, the Fast Startup file isn't used so it takes longer to get back to the desktop.

A Restart from inside Windows assumes there's been a problem somewhere so it ignores all the settings etc saved in the Fast Startup file, and has to load and configure everything all over again.  Next time you shut down normally, Windows creates and saves a new Fast Startup file on the boot drive so the next cold boot will be fast.

I'm using W11 and did a full reinstall ~2 weeks ago.

Thanks. The only reason I thought it should be on AHCI is because I didn't order this with RAID.

I think I found the problem though. SATA 2 & 3 were checked and I think it was having to time out on those since they are not installed.

The RAID setting seems to be working now. Cold boot is ~15 seconds now and restart is ~ 60 seconds.

Thanks

Glad you got it sorted.

Dell routinely sets BIOS to RAID rather than AHCI and installs Windows configured to use RAID. Doesn't matter if you're actually using RAID or not. 

I don't understand. Did you actually manage to change BIOS to use AHCI and get Windows to boot with BIOS set that way, even though you didn't use the right commands? And is it booting normally or in Safe Mode?

I followed your procedure but it came back with a blue screen error. Not the BSOD that I'm used to seeing on other versions of Windows.

I eventually got the second command you gave to run by removing {current} from it.

I'm still on raid but it's booting fine now. I'm not in safe mode anymore, It's normal.

Now if I can figure out this random W11 freeze/lockup problem.

Thanks

I followed your procedure but it came back with a blue screen error. Not the BSOD that I'm used to seeing on other versions of Windows.

I eventually got the second command you gave to run by removing {current} from it.

I'm still on raid but it's booting fine now.

Now if I can figure out this random W11 freeze/lockup problem.

Thanks

@suenrod  What random freeze/lockup are you talking about? You've only mentioned slow boot times in this thread.

There are many threads about random freezes and lockups with XPS 8940, regardless of the OS that's installed, which relate to the version of BIOS installed. If your replacement motherboard has any version higher than BIOS 2.3.0, you may want to revert to that version which seems to be more stable than any of the versions released after 2.3.0.

My XPS8940 has had intermittent freezes since the day I got it. (Order date: Nov 21, 2021)

It was not too bad at 1st (2 or 3 times a week) and I figured it would be fixed soon by some DELL software update.  It IS NOT caused by any software that I have installed.

I did a complete system restore and it still does it.

It is fully updated. I temporarily reverted the bios to an earlier version and the problem went back to a few times a week.

When it freezes it requires a complete reboot. Nothing on the screen or keyboard is functional when it happens.

If some audio source is playing, the speakers produce a loud growl or buzz until I shutdown with the front power button.

It even freezes if I leave it running all night without any other apps running. The fan kicks on high after being froze a while too.

Another problem it has is that the microphone is not detected when plugged in.

Dell did remote diagnostics and concluded that the motherboard was bad. I had hoped it would cure the freezing issue but it didn't.

Freezing and microphone not being detected are the only problems I have right now.

The microphone issue is resolved. There was some kind of MB update last night so fingers crossed that the freezing is fixed,