Windows 8 Issue

Sir Vival

Ok,

Neighbour called me to come look at their new Windows 8 machine which has caused difficulty since purchase.

So here's the issue.

When trying to launch most applications, a windows "bad image" error dialogue appears saying "C:\Windows\system32\version.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error"

From google searches, malware seemed a likely cause so I ran malware anti malware bytes and removed one infected file. However, the issue still exists.

I tried booting the machine into safe mode at which point a light blue screen appeared and nothing else, no warning/error message, no bios settings, no nothing. After powering off the machine (manually by holding power on button) and attempting boot again, the blue screen appears again

Any advice on how to get this mess sorted out? I'm really at a loss as to what's causing this, whether it's a hardware issue, driver issue or corrupt/incorrectly installed OS.

The PC doesn't even seem to boot at all now. I can't perform a system restore so not sure what's the next step, the machine is still under warranty so might just be quicker to return?

Fysh

Try the Windows 8 factory restore option, if you can. If not, boot from a Win8 install disc and use the "Repair my computer" to get it bootable again, then use the factory restore option. If it still doesn't work, tell your neighbour to go back to the shop with it.