Note that while you once had a "hang at MUP.SYS" signature during your troubles, your current issue does not show that signature and you are well outside the scope of this thread. You may get better results taking your problem to a more appropriate thread.

If you turn on the machine and you can't even get to BIOS, then you clearly have a low-level problem that is likely hardware-related. Are you sure your PSU is properly sized? Is it a quality model? If I had "black marks" around the PSU connectors to my mobo, lemme tell you what, I'd *never* replace the PSU with an identical model!

Once you first saw this signature, did you try resetting the CMOS again and/or pulling the CMOS battery and rebooting?

Good luck,
Jim

UPDATE:

My PSU is a enermax noistaker PSU 480, (quality i believe). however, it is not a problem now. i can boot to bios after i reset AGAIN. but still hang at mup.sys.

all hardware seems to be fine, DIMM's, cpu etc. all fine in the bios.

that BSOD while playing source may have been crucial. any ideas?

I'm not going to read all these posts, but, everytime I've ran into mup.sys not loading, it was a bad cd-rom not reading the disk correctly.

I patched in a cd-rom and viola.

Be sure to run chkdsk /f to check harddrive for errors.

DNA

Im sure every case is different. I reset ESCD and my pc booted up no trouble. Please try this method. I had no faith but it worked.

FuSion

Hi Tom,

It looks like the DFI boards get very upset if the OS crashes or your lose power resulting in a reboot without shutting down. All I have to do to get a problem is to turn off the PSU while the machine is running. Yes I know it's not a good idea, but on a few occasions the system has hung up in an application and forced me to power down the hard way.

Look back up the thread to see how I worked my way through the boot issue. I recommend following it to see if this resolved the issue. I also recomend changing your boot settings so that it does not automatically reboot on a BSOD. This way you'll be able to see the error.

And yes an essential part of the process is to reset the ESCD. In fact any time I make a BIOS change or take out and replace a card I reset ESCD. This essentially tells the BIOS to relearn the devices connected to it. It appears that the ESCD data on a DFI board can get corrupted. Also as per my earlier thread the ESCD data sometimes does not reset correctly unless you follow the procedure I laid out.

Control Panel / System / Advanced/ Startup Recovery / Settings. Uncheck Automatically Restart.

Best of luck.

Hi everyone... god, I need help with this, I'm so ignorant about my computer. I have this problem aswell but unfortunately I couldn't apply any of the help that I found on this thread.. when you say the Windows XP Recovery CD, is that just the CD that you installed Windows with in the first place? I tried putting it in my computer but it does not acknowledge it at all, it just goes straight on to the black screen to tell me that Windows isn't loading properly. So I tried to go into Setup but alas... it's password protected. I don't remember ever changing the password for it so what the hell would it be! Is there a default password? Ahhh what do I do... how do I boot from the Windows CD. I'm so lost. *wails*

Open your case and reset the BIOS using a jumper. If you don't understand read your motherboard's booklet, after u reset the BIOS go into the bios and the password protection wotn come up. Then go to the area where it has the boot options, choose to bot form cd, reboot ur pc and press any key to boot from the cd.

Hello,
We're having this problem on one of our units here, and having trouble isoulating the exact problem. We've deleted the the suggested file, regardless of the unknown wereabouts on the Drivers It was, and still the problem continues. Can someone give us the exact location of the Mup.sys files and the different file that is supposdly also corruped (name and locations also please).

There are four of us here, and having a hard time trying to fix this problem on only the one unit. Sorry if this is a repeat post of another posted before us, but i'm sure you understand the inconvience and agrovation this causes. A step to step guide would be nice...

Thanks for your time.

Well I've had it up to my eyeballs with my BSOD (ACPI).

All I did yesterday was to install a new CPU heatsink. Rebooted and started some benchmarks. All seemed fine until I downloaded the BF2 1.03 patch and gave it a try. Well the game hung up, which required a hard boot. I knew the ACPI error would appear and when it did I went through my usual procedure and fixed it. Well after a couple more hangups the machine would no longer reboot.

Now I jumped the CMOS reset and even reflashed the BIOS. All to no avail. So now I can't reboot to Safe or even get to the recovery console or even reinstall the OS.

I'm fed up with DFI and their products. The board is only 6 months old and I'm going to buy a new board tomorrow. Then rather than RMA it I'm going to smash it into billions of pieces. DFI has no support so there is no way I can get the BIOS fix that I'm sure I need.

Well I did go trolling for more information one more time and this is what I came up with:

http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php

Which led me to:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=256841&sd=RMVP

So it appears that the ACPI error I'm getting is due to the inability of the system to enter ACPI mode. Apparently I can reinstall Windows to not use ACPI but why should I? This will probably work but I do not want a system that I have to band aid to get it to work.

So TTFN.

Oh joy I get to buy new toys.

I've read about 20 of the responses to this prob. and would like to weigh in - the more info the better, right?
I got the mup.sys stall on a WinXP SP1 machine (Dell GX110, if anyone cares). Based on a past experience with something similar, I opened up the machine, removed the RAM, blew a ton of dust off the motherboard, and reinstalled the RAM into the previously unoccupied slot. Also, I reseated the HD connector on both the drive and the motherboard. Yes, multiple changes, I know.. hard to diagnose. I was in a hurry, I'm sure most of you can relate.
PC came right up and the user reports no probs. since. On a whim I looked into mup.sys and found more than I expected. What exactly is mup.sys, anyone know? If it's in the posts somewhere, I apologize.
The "something similar" I mentioned above had to do with the addition of RAM into a laptop after it had hibernated. With power off and battery removed, I added some RAM. When I tried to un-hibernate, the OS hung up - guess where. mup.sys I figured that the OS already had it's heart set on certain addresses to dump the previous RAM contents and I had meddled with that when I added more. I removed the new module, booted fine, shut down, added it back and all was well.
Sooo, this all makes me wonder: does mup.sys want specific memory locations? If so, is this attribute dynamic? Is it based on info. from "last known good"? Has anyone tried recovering from this with the Last Known Good option? Am I just mixed up in a series of unrelated coincidences?

If you read this thread, you will soon realize that the problem is almost certainly *not* with mup.sys--that's simply the last thing printed to the screen before the machine hangs or slows way down during a boot. It's the hang/slowdown that's the real problem, and that occurs *after* mup.sys is successfully loaded. It is therefore irrelevant to know what mup.sys actually does when trying to understand or resolve this problem signature. (Even people who know better still call it the "mup.sys problem" simply because that's easier than calling it "the problem that occurs after mup.sys is loaded".)

The actions that occur after mup.sys is loaded appear to be (re)initializations of various input/output deviced: mouse, keyboard, IDE / SATA devices, USB ports, 1394 ports, parallel ports, serial ports, etc. Based on the numerous responses to this thread, it appears that the actual problem is often a hardware fault with one or more of these interfaces. Sometimes, it appears the problem is some sort of BIOS setting that conflicts with how the OS expects to handle these interfaces. But other scenarios have been described that don't fall into either of these categories, too. This one signature (hanging after mup.sys) apparently occurs as the result of a great multitude of different root causes.

I have mentioned in several responses throughout this thread that my problem was solved by replacing a faulty IDE cable. Since you also re-seated one or more IDE connectors, it's possible that was your problem as well. Since you took multiple actions, though, you'll never really know for sure.

Also, I want to point out that your issue with the laptop RAM addition is completely unrelated. Adding RAM to a computer while hibernated is only marginally better than adding RAM to a machine while it is up and running, and thus it is unsurprising that you had big problems. Depending on the hibernation state, the RAM itself may remain powered so that the contents are preserved. Even if the hibernation state is such that the RAM contents are stored to disk and the RAM is unpowered, the entire hibernation concept assumes the machine remains essentially untouched between hibernation entry and exit. Windows expects that the disk drives are all tied to the same IDE channels they were when it went to sleep, the amount and location of RAM doesn't change, the video and soiund cards haven't been replaced, etc. All such major changes should be done after Windows is fully shut down and the machine powered off, both to avoid issues with breaking/making connections while interfaces are energized and to allow the operating system to detect such changes and make the appropriate adjustments (loading drivers, reassigning system resources, etc.) during the boot sequence. (USB devices are okay to hot-plug, and I think 1394 is also hot-pluggable, but with the rest, hot-plugging should be avoided.)

Jim

Hi Jim,

So I posted my problem on a DFI site and the DFI tech's think its a problem with the power settings in the BIOS. They asked for some photo's of the BIOS screens and I sent them in promptly. Well since the BIOS settings are the optimized defaults, like I told them, I've not heard anything back from them.

I also raised the problem directly with DFI support and they have not been able to even suggest anything to try.

The latest state of my machine, prior to getting a new mobo, was that it would boot clean if I left the machine powered off completely, i.e. remove power from PSU, for about an hour. Then after booting the machine would stay up for as long as I cared to leave it running. It would play games and run through toture tests so it's not overheating. Well if I tried to reboot the machine it would immediately BSOD (ACPI), and for the unitiated in Safe Mode this would occur just after MUP.SYS.

I tried everything from taking the machine apart completely, jumping the CMOS reset; reflashing the BIOS, resetting the BIOS to attempting to reinstall the OS. All to no avail the machine would BSOD (ACPI) everytime.

The DFI board is now back in a box. I might rebuild it in the future, I might even RMA it if DFI asks me too. I still might blow it up.

Well the end to the story is that I went and bought a Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI PRO. Took out everything and reinstalled the components to the new mobo, repartitioned the primary partition and reinstalled the OS. Now everything is fine. I hope this is the end of my story.

I hope so too, Peter. I think your difficulties have been more frustratingly difficult to understand than most in this thread, which is saying something! In the interests of showing committment to customer satisfaction, I'd lke to hear that DFI begged you to send them the faulty board so they could do a thorough post-mortem on it and learn from it, and so minimize the chances of another customer going through what you had to deal with.

Unfortunately, I suspect the only satisfaction you will ultimately get is when you apply your threatened high explosives to your board!

Good luck with the new machine,
Jim

If it helps anyone i had this problem when i unplugged my IDE cdrom so i could test a backup drive. When i plugged the cdrom back in the system boots happily. never had this happen before ;-/

Hi Jim,

Well I did receive and email from DFI today asking me to RMA the board. Seeing that I have a spare PCI-EX 6600GT I could use a new board to build another machine in the future. So I will RMA the board. If they ever tell me what was wrong with it I'll let the whole world know.

Dave, this machine has a video card, one sata drive and one DVD player. In fact most of the time the DVD player is not connected since I do not need it to play the majority of the games I have. If you're wondering why I would keep disconnecting the DVD player it is because the rig is a custom build designed to fit into a hard case for travelling. To keep the size down the DVD player connects externally via the IDE cable.

Maybe the continuous plugging and unplugging caused the BIOS to have a stroke but it would be a first for me. Yeah and I never changed anything with power running to the board, I always disconnected the PSU from the board before changing anything and I'd always reset the ESCD data in the BIOS as well.

Well I've had a few BSOD's with my GA-8N-SLI now but all of them were due to driver issues while learning a new mobo's idiosyncrasies.

Take care,

ok so i am dealing with this whole problem just like everyone else.. ive gone through all of the steps that have been listed, minus changing out the IDE cables. currently, keep in mind, im working on my gf's pc, that i built* currently i formatted the HD, it seems to freeze up after i finish formatting it. when i try installing xp from the disc, the HD SHUTS OFF at "windows starting up" and then everything shuts off!... i changed out the power cable to see if that would do anything.. now the HD is making a repetitive buzzing noise and i cant even get to my BIOS settings, it just stays on the beginning screen! im so stressed and frustrated with this.. please help!

Actually, this does not sound at all like the "freezing at mup.sys during Safe Mode boot" signature that this thread is primarily intended to address. The "mup.sys" signature indicates "basic computer operations are working enough for booting to begin, but somewhere along the way, Windows hangs for some reason".

If you can't even get into BIOS, your system never even gets close to loading Windows, and you have a very different problem.

My guess? If the hard drive is making odd noises, then there's a phyical problem with the hard drive. Replace it, and see if that solves your problem. (You can isolate the problem to the hard drive without replacing it: Unplug the power and data connectors, then reboot and confirm you can get into BIOS. If you can, the problem is related to the hard drive. If you still can't boot into BIOS, the problem is somewhere else, perhaps in the power supply.)

As for the initial event, when the hard drive "shut down" and then the computer shut down, my guess is that the hard drive was drawing too much power from the power supply (which could easily happen if the motor is straining to overcome bad bearings or the power supply is "weak" or failing), and it overloaded the PS and caused a trip and a reset.

Note that you may get better troubleshooting help by taking your problem to a more appropriate thread or starting a new thread.

Good luck,
Jim

well in the beginning i had the mup.sys problem and i was able to get into windows twice. once i burned all the files so they wouldnt be lost, and another time i uninstalled SP2. after that i used WD diagnostics tools to format my HD, but once it finished formatting, it froze, therefore i had to do a hard reboot. this happened a few times and then i came to this problem i stated above. i am able to access bios, it just takes longer. the HD still makes the weird noise. my friend said he could change some settings in the BIOS to fix this but im not quite sure how reliable he is in this situation.

While you might have had the "mup.sys" symptoms at the beginning of your journey, you left that problem behind when you formatted your hard drive. Your current situation is very different, which is why I suggested you might want to try a different thread. There may be lots of folks on this forum who could offer you good advice who aren't paying attention to this thread because they're not interested in the "mup.sys" problem.

I still suggest that if your hard drive is making weird noises, you probably have more than just a BIOS issue. Hard drives are relatively inexpensive these days. It might be worth trying a new one.

Good luck,
Jim

I have this problem with a HTPC I am building. I am using a Silverstone case LC11M which requires a riser card. Everything is fine if I use the onboard video. If I use the AGP video in bios and use the provided AGP riser card and a MX400 card I have, no problems. However, when I use my FX5200 card in the AGP riser I freeze during boot after mup.sys. I tried reinstalling windows but the setup in dos works fine, but the windows based setup after reboot also freezes.

I am working through the issue with Silverstone as I need to use my FX5200 card for the video out and compatibility with MCE 2005.

Any suggestions?

P.S. I am going to try the AGP440.sys solution (see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324764) tonight and see if that helps.