XPS 8930, Realtek audio driver 2021, slow boot

BTW: The Realtek driver also uninstalls and reinstalls Waves MaxxAudio Pro at the same time, which is the main audio control software on the XPS 8930. So that's another possible place your update got messed up.

Realtek audio driver 6.0.9205.1 was installed on my XPS 8930 on 10/7/21 and I haven't seen this problem. According to Task Manager the last boot time (today) was 9.9 sec.

Maybe you just had a bad install of the driver? You might want to manually set a System Restore point to be safe, and then manually download and install the new driver, without using SupportAssist.

I can confirm this same thing has happened to two other 8930 systems in the past week!  Not sure why everyone isn't seeing it, but more people may run into this issue as Win10 Windows Update is now pushing this update out as forced non-optional on some systems.  I came to the same conclusion and fixed the issue by rolling to the Microsoft  High Definition Audio device driver.  My story ...

I run a lean XPS 8930 without a lot of installed software and a SSD boot drive.  Running Win10 Home 21H1 without fast-startup, and my system usually boots in ~ 10 seconds.  I noticed about a week ago that my fans were ramping up while watching youtube and the cpu was pegging.  Rebooted and the time jumped from ~ 10 seconds to ~ 90 seconds.  The CPU appeared to be used by the HD Audio Background Process.  I checked my Windows Update Driver history and System Restore ... and sure enough earlier in the day Windows Update pushed out 'Realtek Semiconductor Corp. - MEDIA - 6.0.9205.1' to my computer ... forced as I did not click on checking for updates.  Troubleshooting:

• I was previously running Realtek 6.0.9107.1, but I couldn't rollback to that version.  I only had the option of rolling to the MS 2020 driver.
• I decided tp uninstall the 9205 driver and reinstall the October listed 9205 driver directly from Dell's website.  With the fresh re-install, nothing was fixed.  Still long boot times and CPU pegging.
• I did find that if I disabled the Realtek Audio Manager and HD Background process in 'start-up', then the issues would go away.  My speakers would work, but I ran into problems with my headset and mic
• I decided to then roll back from Realtek to the MS HD Audio Device driver ... and problem solved!
• I later tried removing the Realtek driver while using the MS Driver, but Windows update would then download and install the Realtek 9205 driver and override the MS 2020 driver and I'd be right back to the issues

Re-installing the Realtek 9205 driver from Dell does not fix the issue, and Windows Update will keep trying to force this driver update if you remove it.  For a current solution I've found:

• Keep the Realtek 9205 on your computer so Windows Update doesn't try to reinstall
• Install the MS HD Audio Device Driver via either rollback, or you can 'update driver' and browse local on your computer.  Under compatible hardware it should give a choice to chose Realtek or MS.

A few days ago a friend who also has an XPS 8930 mentioned his boot time dramatically increased.  I had him check his Windows Update history and he also had the Realtek 9205 driver update pushed to his system this week.  I had him rollback to the MS driver for now, and his problems were fixed as well.  He was also on Win10 21H1

Not sure why this isn't affecting all 8930 Realtek users, but that's 3 of us so far, and there will probably be more.  It's one thing if people are voluntarily downloading this driver update from Dell, but MS is now force installing it for some via Windows Update.  Realtek/Dell should pull this driver until they know what's going on

It was offered to me as an optional update by Windows Update.

You may need to re-configure Waves MaxxAudio Pro after rolling back the drivers. 

EDIT: I pinged my Dell tech contacts about this thread...

I have been experiencing the same issue with my XPS 15 9500. After updating via Windows 10 update, Intel update and Dell update my restart boot time jumped from 13 seconds to 140 seconds.

This post helped me solve the problem.

I downdated the Realtek driver from my local PC at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore from Realtek 9210 Realtek 9089.

For context my XPS15 also has an NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device driver and Intel Display Audio driver.

@505Kelvin 

Rolling back to an old malware vunerable driver is not recommended.

The windows DCH driver requirement is why the drivers start having issues.  This is a microsoft problem not a dell problem.

I may wrong but AFAIK driver version 9089, dated January 6th 2021. Is not vulnerable to malware.

I was told to install that driver by Customer Care on a different problem on my XPS8940.

Booting is NOT taking longer, TM shows 9.7 in BIOS. Just another data point.

Hi Ron,

Actually I got the driver from a Dell Technical Updates email and downloaded the installer exe.

Pointing to support assist was a mistake, but you are right. Sometimes support assist driver updates fail , while downloading the installer and executing that works fine.

Francis

NEW IT..Sort of.Every time I get a forced realtek I loose sound and have to fool around to get it back.Noticed the boot time was way to long.Didn't realize it was realtek issue.Man I hate this stuff.Like dell,like the 8930 but I love this forum.Thank you all.

Sometimes (many times) you need to uninstall existing Realtek drivers first, rather than just installing the new one "on top". 

1. Open Windows Reliability Monitor and look at various dates to find the Realtek update and see if it's marked "successful" or shows an error.
   
   
2. Manually set a System Restore point to be safe. Then open Device Manager and click View>Show hidden devices. Then scroll through the entire list, looking for any entry marked with an X or !, and any "Unknown" device. Right-click and Uninstall all of those entries. Now click Action>Scan for hardware changes. When that's done, close Device Manager and reboot.

Any improvements?

Keep in mind Waves MaxxAudio Pro needs to be reconfigured every time Realtek audio drivers are updated. On my XPS 8930, every time there's a Realtek update, Maxx decides my external speakers are "internal" on the Playback screen in its control panel and there's no way to change that setting directly. My speakers work but they sound awful when Maxx thinks they're internal.

So:

1. Open Waves Maxx control panel and click Playback
2. Scroll down to Advanced and put a check in the box to show a popup
3. If that box is already checked, uncheck it and close the control panel. Now open it again and put check in that box again.
4. Close the control panel and shut PC down normally
5. Disconnect all audio outputs from PC
6. Reboot PC to desktop
7. Plug in external speakers. If you have more than just front L/R (eg, 5.1 sound), plug only front L/R into PC
8. WAIT until Maxx pops up on screen (it may take up to ~30 sec)
9. Choose the correct speaker option from the list
10. If you also have rear L/R, plug them in next
11. WAIT until Maxx pops up on screen again
12. Choose the correct speakers from the list
13. Plug a subwoofer in last
14. WAIT until Maxx pops up and choose the option...
15. Now open the Maxx control panel and confirm the settings on the Playback screen
16. If you have more than just front L/R (eg, 5.1 sound), open the Dimension screen, move the slider to the right to turn it on and configure any other setting options you see.
17. Close the Maxx control panel and reboot

Thanks for reminding me about resetting Max for 5.1 I forgot to do that.

---

@RoHe wrote:

It was offered to me as an optional update by Windows Update.

You may need to re-configure Waves MaxxAudio Pro after rolling back the drivers. 

EDIT: I pinged my Dell tech contacts about this thread...

---

It was optional for me as well for a while.  Then at some point Windows Update just decided to update that driver, while leaving alone the other optional driver updates.  I've seen Windows Update do this in the past as well on other computers.  It seems MS will randomly push some of the optional updates from time to time even without manually checking for updates.  I've even seen BIOS updates pushed via Windows Update this way.  Just a head's up that some may get this driver update pushed via Windows Update.

But, it doesn't look like everyone is adversely affected by it

It might depend on the level of "importance". This one is "Recommended". And maybe that got changed after Windows Update started offering it as "optional". 

And in the past, optional updates could be hidden which is no longer possible...