First try to reboot in safe mode.
Uninstall any software you have installed lastly if your safe mode.
Also try to boot your system with last known good os option. Normally this option comes when you press f8 while booting.
while system start it will find all hardware does it show harddisk or cd rom etc, as i read that your are going to replay harddrive.
Dont replace hard drive, it seems os related problem.
Connect your hard disk as a slave to some other computer and take backup of your computer data and simply re install fresh windows 8.