@Seehow   I was hoping to maybe find a fix as hit the board again today and found your post. Thanks for posting this! You wouldn't believe this but I am the guy from the other post. My replacement machine came in yesterday. I also ran the Alienware support app today that recommended a bios update. 1.0.1 which was not available last time with my first R11 PC. The PC rebooted and I am in the same boat 3,6 error has returned! 

I called support and went through all the motions and they said the same thing, failed motherboard. Ugh! They were super nice but unable to resolve.

1) Yes, bios upgrades are dangerous but if it is listed as recommended from manufacturer then you would think that a user is going to eventually have to update. I have been using and working on PCs since 95 and have done countless bios updates and have never had this happen that I couldn't recover from.

2) I have my in-laws both 80 something are at the house so rather would not do a service call during these times.

3) Honestly, this is making me think I should just setup a return. I am not going to buy extended support just because Dell is not fully testing these updates and frying MBs.

Super bummed today as was looking forward to playing with my new PC. Worst thing is that since this was a replacement, I am already weeks into my warranty spent. 

Kinda scares me as sometimes due to a fix or a security vulnerability, a bios upgrade is needed. I have applie many to my current Area 52 R11 without issue. I am afraid that if I were to get a MB replaced then it will happen again on this model. It happened to me twice already on the same PC.

Anyway, super thanks for sharing as at least I know I am not crazy. Sounds like Dell has an issue with the Aurora R11s

Yea I haven't updated my bios in over a year.  

The Aurora lineup comes with one-year on site support for free when purchased direct from Dell.  Dell still would have sent someone to fix this for you without plus support.  Plus, you were also still in the 30 day return and replace period too (option 2). I'm not saying added purchased warranty options are not worth purchasing. Just noting that Dell will still honor their warranty and fix defects in new pcs within the warranty period (whichever you end up getting). 

@r72019 So are you just never going to update your bios even though it might come down as a recommended update? I would much rather try it in warranty.

I forgot to mention that the tech I spoke to said he had 2 other cases like this over the last week.

@Seehow   I was hoping to maybe find a fix as hit the board again today and found your post. Thanks for posting this! You wouldn't believe this but I am the guy from the other post. My replacement machine came in yesterday. I also ran the Alienware support app today that recommended a bios update. 1.0.1 which was not available last time with my first R11 PC. The PC rebooted and I am in the same boat 3,6 error has returned! 

I called support and went through all the motions and they said the same thing, failed motherboard. Ugh! They were super nice but unable to resolve. 

1) Yes, bios upgrades are dangerous but if it is listed as recommended from manufacturer then you would think that a user is going to eventually have to update. I have been using and working on PCs since 95 and have done countless bios updates and have never had this happen that I couldn't recover from.

2) I have my in-laws both 80 something are at the house so rather would not do a service call during these times.

3) Honestly, this is making me think I should just setup a return. I am not going to buy extended support just because Dell is not fully testing these updates and frying MBs.

Super bummed today as was looking forward to playing with my new PC. Worst thing is that since this was a replacement, I am already weeks into my warranty spent. 

Kinda scares me as sometimes due to a fix or a security vulnerability, a bios upgrade is needed. I have applied many to my current Area 52 R11 without issue. I am afraid that if I were to get a MB replaced then it will happen again on this model. It happened to me twice already on the same PC.

Anyway, super thanks for sharing as at least I know I am not crazy. Sounds like Dell has an issue with the Aurora R11s

Yea I've never updated through supportassist, the program over executable over windows just adds too many variables.  It seems like most of the bios fails I've read about on here come from supportassist updates gone wrong.  The last bios update I did was zombieload #1 patch.  It seems intel is taking a piecemail approach to addressing that vulnerability.  In any event I didn't feel the potential benefits of later updates were worthwhile, considering potential impacts on my other non-oem components, including gpu, ram, and fans, and the known awcc issue with recent bios updates. Also considering my cpu was manufactured during 4Q18, and mds vulnerabilities should have been addressed at the hardware level by that time.  

I would be paranoid about flashing the BIOS from Windows...

Better to save it on a USB drive then boot up and access BIOS Flash Utility in the BIOS and do it there.

Thanks guys! Lesson learned. I will never use the Dell support app again Thanks for the instructions to do it the other way. You would think Dell test these updates. ugh

Keep in mind that not all PC models have the BIOS update option on their F12 menu for use with a non-bootable USB stick.

And in that case, create a bootable USB with Rufus (free). Then copy the BIOS update .exe onto it, and use the F12 menu to boot from USB...