Hello,

Since about a month ago, my XPS laptop boots very very slowly (even slower than a 10 years old windows XP machine!)

It takes roughly 30 seconds for the DELL logo to post after pressing the power button, then another 20-30 seconds for it to load the bootloader (in my case rEFInd). After selecting the OS (be it Windows or Linux), it takes another 20 seconds before it actually starts loading the OS (screen stays black and then the boot animation shows). The OS boots in two-three seconds to the lockscreen.

I removed the SSD boot drive to test if it has something to do with my OS and bootloader, but that didn't change a thing. Booting past the UEFI post just takes so long!

Saving settings in the bios also take roughly 30-50 seconds to be applied. The cursor freezes and I can't browse anything in the bios till it's responsive again.

Someone suggested me that the CMOS/BIOS chip is failing, but I'm not sure about it.

I've read that disconnecting the battery for a bit can do magic, I'll retry it, but I doubt it would work.

PS: Once the OS is booted, everything is just fast and smooth. No hickups or slowdowns. CPU temperatures are ~50C with the fans turned off or on low speed (using the quiet thermals profile).

Any ideas?