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What can I do when the Windows 8 x64 operating system files get flagged as corrupt by sfc even after a complete reformat and reinstall?

I reformatted the computer because I had trouble with WiFi, USB ports, intermittent full system hangs, and SQL Server Management Studio would frequently hang, crash, or both.

Is it possible that sfc is creating false positives? How would I see if that's happening?

Of course, it's possible that the files weren't corrupt before the reformat & rebuild but that shouldn't matter.

The Dell Vostro 3460 is used at work and all of the licenses & install media came through legitimate channels (e.g. MSDN license). I've considered malware but both Trend Micro and Windows Defender (aka MSE) turn up nothing of note. The drivers and BIOS are all up to date.

SpeedFan regularly shows little flames next to all the temperature sensors except Temp1 and Temp2. However, when I disassembled the computer, I didn't see much dust and I removed that which I found. The laptop is positioned on a flat surface and I can feel a breeze from the fan vent on the left side.

To be exact, here are the displayed temperatures right now. The laptop was left on over the weekend and I haven't run any CPU intensive tasks so far since coming back to work.:

  • Flame, HD1, 50C
  • Flame, Temp1, 51C
  • Flame, Temp2, 51C
  • Up arrow, Core 0, 47C
  • Green checkmark, Core 1, 46C
  • Green checkmark, Core 2, 44C
  • Green checkmark, Core 3, 47C

Running the short test on the normal HDD comes up clean. When I run the short test on the mSATA SSD, SpeedFan hangs with a status of "in progress...".

I have other computer problems too but I'm reluctant to seek help for them when the OS may be corrupt.

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  • Was Windows 8 working prior to this i.e. what prompted the clean install? Aug 2, 2013 at 21:59
  • Have you checked the Dell support page to check for any updates, particularly the BIOS, and firmware updates for your SSD. That would be my first port of call if clean installs were throwing up errors. At this point it could be one of many things. Aug 2, 2013 at 22:07
  • I've already checked for updated drivers & BIOS.
    – Zian Choy
    Aug 5, 2013 at 16:28
  • I've added a note to give examples of problems pre-reformatting.
    – Zian Choy
    Aug 5, 2013 at 16:33
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    his HDD is fine. This is a bug in 1 Windows 8 update. Aug 6, 2013 at 18:21

3 Answers 3

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This is a bug with the following Update:

A servicing stack update is available for Windows RT and Windows 8: June 2013 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2821895

Known issues The following known issues may occur after you install update 2821895:

When you use the System File Checker tool to run the following command, you may receive an error message that states that there are corrupted files. The error message also states that you must restart the computer to repair the files.

sfc /scannow

To work around this issue, use the DISM tool to repair Windows.

After you repair Windows, run the System File Checker tool again. If you still receive an error message that states that there are corrupted files, your system may contain corrupted files. In this situation, contact technical support for more help.

Run this DISM command to fix the issue:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

System File Checker finds corrupt files after installing KB2821895

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2864252/en-us

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Provided you are using Dell re-install media, my hypothesis is that those disks might have some customized drivers and files to work out of the box with your computer. This might trigger a false positive as sfc compares those modified (but not corrupted) files against the Microsoft ones. Try with a copy of the original Microsoft media. I'd also consider archery1234's advice: check the SSD firmware and the BIOS.

Regarding the SpeedFan problem, are those temperatures a crazy high number such as +127 Celsius or subzero? If so, probably SpeedFan is polling sensors present on the SuperIO chip of your laptop, but that are not being used. For example, SpeedFan reports temperatures of -59C on the AUXTIN sensors of my ASUS Maximus V Gene, what is easily explicable as sensors by my previous statement, as with ambients of 30 Celsius I'll hardly experiment subzero temperatures inside my system. SpeedFan may also report voltages of 0V or negatives due to the same phenomenon.

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I'd suggest running a memory scanner like Memtest or the Microsoft RAM tester. Sounds like when you are loading from the source media, files are corrupting on the way. It could also be a bad or slightly ajar cable connecting your drives.

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