Subject: Inspiron 15 3535 meltdown: 2-1 light codes, RAM freezes, and battery errors

Try a reset -- unplug the system, remove the base cover and disconnect the main battery from the system board.  Hold the power button for 30 sec.

Remove and reinstall the memory module(s).

Reassemble and see if the system will boot normally.  If it does, the next step would be a clean install of the OS.

@ejn63​ Ok, thank you, I will try that.

@ejn63​

The 2-1 code is a CPU failure, so no - there's no software/firmware involved.  If it is working without that code now, reload the OS.  Anything beyond that is likely going to be mainboard-related -- and replacing the board on a system that's close to three years old and a low-end budget model likely will force examining the cost/benefit of it -- as it will likely be more than half the original cost of the system in total.

@ejn63​

Okay, thank you for your response :).   Before I give up on this machine, I wanted to mention one more thing. While the BIOS says the battery health is Excellent, dell supportAssist threw a specific hardware warning.

Could this Internal Error be causing the intermittent voltage drops that trigger the 2-1 CPU light codes? I'm wondering if a faulty battery logic board is 'gaslighting' the system into thinking the CPU is failing when it's actually just a power supply issue. This is an original Dell battery that came with the laptop. It seems to be working now, but it works and then it doesn’t. Thanks!

If you think the battery is the issue, take the system to a local repair shop and have them disconnect it and see if that solves the problem.  If it does not, the battery is not the issue and it's likely one or another of the many power rails on the board is -- meaning it's system board replacement required.

It’s also been forcing me into BitLocker recovery

Not sure about the "recovery" part. Just make sure you know your BitLocker key and have it backed-up with the various ways they provide. But it really should not be asking for the key unless you just did something extreme.

BDE is likely on if you login-to-Windows with an online Microsoft Account. That is usually when Microsoft decides to "turn it on for you" without really asking. Remember, you can Suspend it ... and IIRC it's recommended to do so before doing certain things.

The other option you should check is Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) at Security Center / Device Security / Core Isolation / Memory Integrity . Try to keep it on, but you might have a slight performance hit. 

@Tesla1856​

@FlopsyAndFlo​

@Tesla1856​

1. the BitLocker prompts seem to happen randomly after the laptop crashes to a black screen.

2. I'm worried that D0306 internal battery error I found in SupportAssist is causing power fluctuations that trigger both the BitLocker lockout and the 2-1 light codes.

3. Do you think disabling Memory Integrity/VBS would reduce the load on the hardware and stop these intermittent crashes, or is this a physical power/motherboard issue?

3. Would not hurt to turn it off for a while ... while you troubleshoot. Lets the Operating System and Diag utilities get much closer to the actual hardware.

2. Agreed.

1. Yeah, that should never happen and might be related to the crashing in the first place, like maybe something wrong with the SSD, so the BDE can't work properly.

If Dell still provides an ePSA Diagnostic (that runs OUTSIDE of Windows) you might want to try that and document results. Hopefully, it still checks all the basic/core things and also approves the SSD's current SMART-status.

@Tesla1856​Hi, after running the dell outside-of-windows diagnostics everything passes even when running on thorough mode. After running just the thorough battery test, it passes as well yet the test only happens for half a second. Is there a chance there is something wrong with the ssd? Thanks - FlopsyAndFlo

@FlopsyAndFlo​ ,

1. Hi, after running the dell outside-of-windows diagnostics everything passes even when running on thorough mode.

2. After running just the thorough battery test, it passes as well yet the test only happens for half a second.

3. Is there a chance there is something wrong with the ssd? 

1. good. On mine, it wanted to have the genuine AC-Adapter connected (which I like, as it is actually a main component of the system). 

2. Well, takes about 2-seconds on my XPS-13. Mine finished on Summary with a Bar-Code, but if you click on Detailed-View, you can see the details which says "Battery is Good".

In System Info, mine says Health: Excellent.

Also, there is a Health tab that shows general health on various things.

3.  You can test SSD here also. I can't imagine (with all the testing going on) it not notifying you of a poor SMART status. But no, I don't see it spelled out here for some reason. If there is still a question, you can run various Diagnostic utilities in Windows to get a clear SSD SMART-status report (like Crystal DiskInfo x64 and PassMark has a free one).