Dell Inspiron 14z frozen on dell logo

Hi jaimers,

You can fix this issue by changing few settings in BIOS page. Please follow the steps below.

Tap ‘F2’ as soon as the computer starts to enter the BIOS

Please ensure that you are able to see the headings ‘Main’, ‘Advanced’, ‘Wireless’, ‘Security’, ‘Boot’ and ‘Exit’ on the screen

Use the right-arrow key to navigate to ‘BOOT’ Change the SATA operation in BIOS from Intel Smart Response to AHCI and press F10 save changes in BIOS. Reboot the system

Go back into Bios (F2) and change SATA operation from AHCI to Intel Smart Response and press F10 save the changes and Reboot the system. Then the System boots normally into windows. Once the system is booted in to windows you can update the BIOS. Please use the link below to download the BIOS.

http://dell.to/Qnizfs

In this link please punch in the system service tag or express service code and choose the appropriate operating system (windows 8 64 bit) under the BIOS category, select the latest BIOS and download the driver. Please connect the Ac Adapter while updating the BIOS and do not use the system once the update is initiated and until the system restarts completely. Restart the computer multiple times to check the system boots normally.  You can also change the windows update settings once the system is boot in to windows 8. Please follow the steps below.

Press the Windows key and R >Type in control (You should get the control panel) >Choose System and Security > Windows Update > Change Settings > check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them > under the recommended updated > check the box (give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates) and click on ok. In case after doing the above steps and still the problem persists, please give us the exact error message and in which step the error message comes up

Please do reply for further assistance.

Hi lmeisssner,

If you restart the computer after it is forcibly turned off, Windows 8 tries to use the fast startup method. When this occurs, the system determines that the previous restart attempt was unsuccessful, and then tries to restart by using the full startup method. However, this full startup attempt fails because of an access violation that is caused by memory corruption.

Workaround: is to disable ISRT in the BIOS setup menu by selecting SATA mode and changing it to AHCI then saving the change and rebooting windows.

Reboot from windows and enter BIOS setup menu again to set SATA mode back to Raid

Restart Windows again and follow the steps below to Enable Intel Smart Response technology

Step 1: Launch Intel RST UI from system TrayStep 

2 Click Accelerate Icon on top of page then click "Disassociate: 

Step 3:

Step 4 Select HDD and Acceleration mode to "Enhanced mode"

HDD will now be Accelerated again.

I hope you find this useful.

I had the same problem with 2 new 14z computers - the tech support solution was to turn off "secure boot" option from the F2 / Boot screen - this resolved the issue for both my computers. I believe secure boot is designed to make it harder to get a rootkit on the machine - but unfortunately it doesn't look like it is fully compatible with 14z model.