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Fail at boot postcode, can't warm boot
Now I've got an Inspiron 3646, I've had it for about.... 3 months maybe? Started running Win 10 about a week into its life. Now a couple of weeks ago, it started not being able to warm boot. I get the Dell emblem, I get two of the dots in the circle, then the LED for HDD access goes off. And it sits there.
Its been happening for a while now. Cold boot is fine. I talked to a buddy of mine in IT to see if he knew anything. Back when I talked to him, I got a postcode that said "fail at boot postcode 0xA5". I can't find anything on it, and neither could he. We tried doing a drive wipe and a clean install of Win 10. I had to shut off and cold boot this poor machine at least three times for it to complete. He suggested it might be the motherboard. Now, I did run ePSA and the online Dell diagnostics in hoping it could tell me something. Well, I got nothing. He says that it could be a very serious problem as it is a postcode.
What worries me is now it says "fail at boot postcode 0xA4". So whatever this is, it seems to be "moving". I'm wondering if the postcode has anything to do with the warm boot failure. I haven't called Dell yet, and its still under warranty. But, I'm hoping that someone or something can help me out with this... before calling Dell and sending it in.
retiredengineer
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June 4th, 2016 10:00
My 3646 desktop with 8.1 displayed the same 0xA4 fail code, so I called support. The code means a motherboard problem so they had my motherboard replaced. My desktop still displays the same fail code but the computer still boots up fine. I think it is a software problem, not a hardware problem. I did upgrade the BIOS to the latest but no joy. The MB was replaced last year. Got my finger crossed. The failed code occasionaly appears after a cold start but not waking up from sleep.