Windows 8 Blue Screen

Valhilla

Honorable
Apr 12, 2013
12
0
10,510
About 6 months ago my Toshiba Satellite stopped working. When I would try to start it up I would get and error saying that the file wmilib.sys was missing or corrupt. I've tried so many things to fix this. I was wondering if I could completely wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install of windows 8 or 7? I went out and bought a windows 8 installation disc but when I tried to install it, it just kept showing the windows 8 logo and it never went away (left comp on all night).
Nothing in the windows repair works (shocker). So far no hard drive wipe program has worked for this laptop. Tried DBAN and it said it could complete do to bad sectors and HDDErase didn't work either. But would wiping the Hard drive and installing windows even fix it? If anyone can help me out I would greatly appreciate it. Whether you can help me out on fixing the problem or finding a hard drive wiping program that doesn't require me to actually go into windows, that would be great.
 

WinOutreach2

Distinguished
Mar 3, 2011
413
0
19,160
From what you described, it sounds as though even DBAN is reporting that your hard drive is failing and has bad sectors. From the Command Prompt in the recovery environment on the installation disk you could run the Check Disk Utility to search for drive defects and file system corruption with the following command:

Code:
chkdsk /r
If the disk is indeed failing, it should be replaced before attempting any other repair. If it does not appear to be failing you could also run the System File Checker from the Command Prompt to search for corruption in the operating system files and to repair or replace them if necessary. This should replace wmilib.sys to resolve that particular blue screen. The command for SFC is:

Code:
sfc /scannow
If you encounter an error with SFC, it may be necessary to run it offline, you will need to use DiskPart to determine the drive letter assigned to your Windows volume using the following commands:

Code:
diskpart
list volume
exit
Then use that drive letter to substitute for X in the following command:

Code:
sfc /scannow  /offbootdir=X:\ /offwindir=X:\windows
 

Valhilla

Honorable
Apr 12, 2013
12
0
10,510


Okay. chkdsl /r does not work.
sfc /scannow does not work.
This is why I hate windows because if you computer blue screens none of the built in or windows recovery options work EVER
 

WinOutreach2

Distinguished
Mar 3, 2011
413
0
19,160
There is quite a bit of confusing information in your post, let me ask a few clarifying questions to try to determine exactly what is happening.

Are you able to access Windows at all?
What was the original operating system?
From where are you running the commands provided?
What errors are you receiving when running the commands provided?

If the original operating system was Windows 8, one possibility which comes to mind is that you may be encountering Secure Boot. If the system came with Windows 8 and UEFI, it may have come with Secure Boot enabled. Secure Boot can usually be disabled from within the system firmware or BIOS.

Another possibility if the original operating system was Windows 7 is that SFC cannot be run on a Windows 7 system from a Windows 8 based recovery environment. To run SFC on Windows 7 it would need to be run from within Windows 7 or from Windows 7 based recovery or installation media.

Yet another possibility is if you are able to access Windows and are attempting to run these commands from within Windows, an Administrative Command Prompt would be required. Type CMD at the Start Screen or Start Menu, then right click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

If ChkDsk is running on another volume other than your operating system volume, you can specify the volume on which to run by replacing X in the following prompt with the drive letter found using DiskPart in the method found in my previous post:

Code:
chkdsk x: /r
If the disk is in fact bad, it is possible that even when run correctly, all of these operations could fail. If the disk is bad, it will need to be replaced.

If your recovery media is untrustworthy, I would suggest creating a recovery disk or recovery drive from another computer running Windows 8 if possible, or Windows 7 if a Windows 8 system is not available. To create a Recovery Drive in Windows 8, simply type Recovery Drive at the Start Screen, select Create a recovery drive from under the results found in Settings.

Lastly, if you are still looking for a way to wipe the drive without being in Windows, from the recovery media the partitions can be removed using the following commands:

Code:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
clean all
Where 0 is the number of the disk you desire to wipe as listed by the list disk command. Clean all wipes all information from the disk, setting all bits back to 0, for a quicker operation, simply enter clean to have all partition information removed.
 

Valhilla

Honorable
Apr 12, 2013
12
0
10,510
"There is quite a bit of confusing information in your post, let me ask a few clarifying questions to try to determine exactly what is happening."

Are you able to access Windows at all? - Only thing I can access is the windows 8 troubleshoot area.
What was the original operating system? - Windows 8
From where are you running the commands provided? - I am running the commands from the command prompt in the windows 8 troubleshoot area.
What errors are you receiving when running the commands provided? - for the "chkdsk /r" command I am getting this error "The type of file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive. Windows can not run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected." For the "sfc /scannow" command I am getting this error "Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service."