Perhaps you could click the "Alert Moderators" link on the header bar of your own post to...well, alert a moderator...

I have alerted 2 moderators, and sent them the proposed post. I am happy to message or email a .txt or .html file to anyone who asks, but please specify your preferred format.

Rick-you can email me the solution at my HWA address (link below) and I'll take a look at it for you.

I have "fixed" this reboot loop twice on a friends computer (ultimately by a complete reinstall), only to have it come back a third time. It has come back about every 45 days, usually about a week after she gets around to updating with SP2. I have previously tried just about every thing I've read here, except the bios flash. This time I got it going by putting the hard drive a different computer and doing a successful repair from Recovery Mode. I am getting ready to do a bios flash to hopefully keep this from coming back, since I haven't determined a definitive cause, but it seems to be hardware/driver related/SP2 related.
HOWEVER...Rick, if you truly have THE answer I will most certainly wait to see what it is. Please post asap, you have a lot of curious people waiting out here. It sounds too good to be true, but we can hope....

This error is hardware independent and only occurs on systems NOT running a genuine copy of XP. You may need to borrow such a copy to test both the problem and the solution. Please be sure to re-install your genuine XP disk once you have completed testing. However the advice given under "CONCLUSIONS" below might well apply to ALL XP installations.

SUBJECT-
1) How to set up an XP system with no "safe mode" error.
2) How to bring about the error.
3) How to remove it.
4) How to prove the cause, and benefit from the knowledge.


METHOD-
1) Take any machine capable of running XP-Pro and fit a clean HDD.
2) Set up XP+SP2. Stay offline for now.
3) Optionally install a software firewall and turn its logs on. From these you can indepentently verify the conclusions below.
4) Reboot and test "safe mode". It will work.
5) Reboot, set a restore point (see 9 and 11 below), then go online and request a download of all MS Security Updates (from control panel / security center). It sent me 24,
6) Shutdown. Your machine will install the updates before switching itself off.
7) Restart the computer in 'safe mode' and it will freeze at MUP.SYS
8) Restart Windows normally, staying off-line.
9) From (control panel / add or remove programs) remove all security updates. Restore from the "Restore point"
10) Reboot the machine. 'Safe mode" now works correctly.
11) On the 3 unrelated machines I tested the 'Restore point' was not needed, but you can't be too safe.

CONCLUSIONS-
1) Security Upgrades are not only for your personal security. They also benefit Microsoft and agencies friendly with Microsoft.
2) The Security Upgrades are downloaded via SVCHOST.EXE. Data is also uploaded (in most cases without your knowledge) to many sites by SVCHOST.EXE.
3) Although SVCHOST.EXE is an essential file, many software firewalls can limit it to the "Trusted Zone"- ie 127.0.0.1 and 169.255.x.x (Kerio will do it, as will others)
4) Limiting net access to SVCHOST.EXE has NO appreciable effects except for preventing-
a) downloads of MS Security Updates
b) auto setting of the machine's RTC
c) the mysterious sending of data to tens of unknown IPs 100+ times a day.

5) These effects can be easily overcome as follows-
a) Run a full suite of freeware programs. SpybotS&D, Spyware Doctor, SpywareBlaster, AVGFree, Kerio, Peer Guardian, RegscrubXP and Adaware are among the better ones. Combined they aurguably provide MORE security than MS Security Upgrades.
b) Most freeware clocks will download only from sites you specify and without any need of SVCHOST.EXE.
c) I don't like my machine talking to strangers. I'm happy to lose this "undocumented feature".


HOW TO FIX a system that is already 'infected' with the "Safe Mode" bug-
1) Get a software firewall which can limit SVCHOST.EXE to your 'trusted zone'.
2) Install all of the above recommended software or equivalent, update and run it regularly.
3) Uninstall ALL MS "Security Upgrades" and re-boot. You will once again have 'Safe Mode' operating normally.
4) Stop using all MS software which requires access to the internet. Absolutely block IE, Outlook etc with your software firewall. Download alternative software- "Open Source" where possible.
5) Keep an eye open for new software wanting access to the 'outside world'. I have very few programs that MUST be open to untrusted zones- my Browser, Email, the freeware security programs, and a file sharer. Even Kerio is limited to the trusted zone.

I hope this will be of help to those suffering the problem, and finally put this thread to rest.

Rick, In my Case when i had XP Corporate Edition (Original Code) i slipstreamed SP2 into it, course i never had an error such as that. heck the last time i had a BSOD was when i was trying to run a 16 Bit App along with 32 Bit Apps assigned to 1 part of the CPU (32 bit apps on 1 part) 16 bit app running on both parts, it caused a BSOD and i said i wouldnt do that again, problem solved, hahaha. Course i decided to buy XP MCE 2005 OEM, Ive been running it since, its heavily tuned to my preferences for sure, (Registry, file hax, optimizations, drivers) been running very strong. still runs at same speed when i installed everything i needed. After i restore the vid card back to full strength i may add my CD ripping utility back in (NERO 7 Ultra) Course i may decide to buy Nero 6 ultra and just get rid of Nero 7.

OK. here is my experience about a freeze up and the mup.sys file:

First to correct some of the inaccuracies expressed in the posts here:
1. the freeze up is NOT hardware dependent
2. the problem does not occur exclusively on illegal copies of XP...

How I got the problem:

I simply tried to boot the computer in safe mode in order to do a defrag... The computer would not boot after that. Instead it would freeze up after every attempt to reboot. If the reboot set to safe modeI would get the freeze at the mup.sys file...

The solution:

The way I solved the problem was the following:
- I booted up another computer and looked on the net for "mup.sys". Google return me this thread...
- I started reading the hopeless posts on the first 3 pages... real desparation and no solution there.
- WHILE READING THE POSTS and after sometime passed the computer unlocked and continued to
boot!!!

So there is the solution: boot the computer once again, (choose safemode when windows says that the system terminated abnormally before) and go for a coffee for half an hour...

Cheers.

Configuration: Toshiba satellite M70-SR6

My Dell XPSGen5 locked up. I rebooted and it locked up at the XP logo. Rebooting in Safe Mode showed it loading MUP.SYS then stopping. After reading comments on this and other websites, I disabled my internal network card and it rebooted normally. I wound up buying a $10 ethernet card and I'm back where I started. By the way, when I tried Recovery Console, I got the Blue Screen of Death.

Quick reply to k v...
1) Yes- hardware independent = not hardware dependent.
2) Serial numbers are only one strategy used by MS to determine XP Pro's legality. At one stage all systems running XP Pro were 'deemed' illegal unles connected to a LAN.

Has anybody duplicated or cleared the error yet?

OH deary me!! I could nearlly cry I can't believe how many people have problems with this 'mup' thing. I have tried nearlly every solution under the sun and it either doesn't have the wanted result (the computer turning on .... ah der) or it doesn't even work.

Ok so my computer is only for 4 months old so you could understand my frustration. I was inserting a CD into my computer ... wham a blue screen of death, I freaked and turned the computer off. Upon taking the battery out and rebooting the Safe Mode option window came up I selected it, it booted up fine I went in and rebooted my computer and that worked fine. I thanked my lucky stars turned off my computer (I know this was silly I should have done some further tests not realising what a big deal this error thing was). Anyway turned it on the next morning and then this is what I get now.

I turn it on and I get the 'Safe Mode' option window.

1. When I try Safe Mode it runs through and hangs on Mup then after a while goes to the Compaq window and hangs there for a while and then there is a looping PXE-E61 Media Test Failure, check cable Message that comes up.
2. Trying the Normal Mode or Last Known Configuration doesn't work either.

I have;

1. tried the chkdsk /p and chkdsk /r and it just doesn't work at all
2. I have tried disabling mup but it comes up with a message saying it can't find the file
3. I have tried to 'repair' my Windows Installation by going into the XP windows set up menu, pressing enter, selecting F8 BUT then it DOESN'T give me the option to "Let Windows try and repair" (It's just not an option).
4. I have tried taking the battery out for hours.
5. I have taken out my HD and put it back in.
6. I have tried to reset the values in BIOS
7. I tried doing a Hard Drive Self Test within BIOS, it doesn't run through the test properly at all .... the 0% complete doesn't change and after about 10 seconds it comes up as saying '#01to#05 fail' even though the test said it would take 85 minutes.

I'm actually in Japan at the moment and well the whole language barrier thing doesn't help with my frustration of not being able to get my computer back up and running, or get help.

I have a Phoenix BIOS F.03 setup however some other suggestions of disabling/resetting ESCD or ACPI in power management that I have seen in this thread are just NOT things that I can do in my BIOS. (Don't ask me why).

I have a Compaq Presario V4000, processor speed 150 MHz, total memory 256MB, 60GB drive

My bro is a self confessed geek and could he sit down in front of my computer I'm sure he could get it up and running.

This might sound really weird but I have this feeling that I can get it back up and working I"m just out of ways to do this.

I would hate to wipe and then re-install the XP installation to only have the error come back and have lost all my information. So many photos and memories of my time here ...... sob sob

PLEASE help me!!!!!

I don't think you have the same problem as desribed in my post above- A week or two ago my system developed a fault almost identical to the one you desribed; it turned out that my 1/2 GB memory stick had reduced itself to 384MB while running overnight. Although my data was undamaged most of the running software (including XP) had failed due to page swapping errors. See how much RAM your machine reports during POST. If this IS the problem replace the RAM and re-install XP, plus all programs that were running at the time of failure.

Rob Lowe said: "This error is hardware independent and only occurs on systems NOT running a genuine copy of XP."

Oh, good grief. Absolutely not true.

I have a genuine copy of WinXP.

I had exactly the classic symptoms this thread addresses: A machine that would boot to the Windows logo screen, and the moving dots at the bottom of the screen would keep moving but the boot would not go farther. Attempting to boot into safe mode shows "mup.sys" as the last driver loaded before the boot process stalls.

Systematic troubleshooting isolated the problem to a faulty IDE cable. Since replacing the cable, the problem has not recurred in my system.

Sorry, Rob. Your "one-size-fits-all" solution...doesn't.

Danielle, I am not familiar with your computer, but typing "PXE-E61" into Google finds many references to this error message, and multiple reasons for why it occurs. Some folks have solved their problems by changing BIOS's boot device sequence to make it check the floppy drive or CD-ROM drive before trying to boot from the hard drive. Others have determined that their hard drives had developed a problem, and the HDD needed to be repaired (via chkdsk) or replaced (if chkdsk didn't solve the problem).

Since you have tred a BIOS-based hard drive check, and it fails to complete successfully, that makes me think you might have a physical hard drive problem. Whatever you do, if you have data you want to save off that hard drive, do NOT give up and reformat it UNTIL you have tried to salvage your data. Do you have access to a desktop computer that you can open up and mess with? If so, you can buy an adapter that will allow you to plug your notebook drive into a desktop PC (example: http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=906&sku=17705). If you do this, make sure your notebook drive's master/slave/cable-select jumper(s) is(are) set appropriately. If all else fails, hopefully you'll be able to plug your drive into another computer this way, and recover at least some of your data.

Okay, back to troubleshooting. If you have access to a CD-burner, you might try downloading and burning this set of troubleshooting tools to a CD, booting from that CD, and then seeing if you can confirm a problem with your HDD and possibly correct it: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

If you can find a notebook-to-desktop converter cable like I mentioned above, you could also plug your drive into a desktop machine and run Windows-based hard drive diagnostic / data recovery tools. Google can help you out with that better than I can.

Sorry I don't have any better ideas for you...
Jim

Thanks for your help Jim

I had already put the `PXE-E61` error message into Google and had already tried changing the boot order in my BIOS and many of the other suggestions that people gave. It`s really annoying because I am getting the `PXE-E61` error after my system has hung on the mup file.
2 nasty errors all on one computer ... gee I`m so lucky!!!

The fact that when I do the BIOS Hard Disk Drive test and it doesn`t complete successfully made me think it is hardware based too BUT then the fact I can get to the Microsoft Windows OS (scrolling blue bar page) makes me think it`s not.

Anyway I`m going to see if I can pick up that cable that you suggested and at least try to save my data *crosses all fingers and toes* and see if I can run some diagnostics off the desktop computer at work.
Then if all else fails look into that Complete Bootable CD you suggested or reformatting.

Thanks once again

I had the problem with hanging at mup.sys and in my case it was a hardware failure. My USB wireless LAN device broke down. I replaced it and the problem went away. But it took me a while to figure this out. Eventually I confirmed it by installing my 'failed' wireless LAN device on another PC and the same thing happened there. So, this IS hardware related! Maybe there are a number of reasons why this problem occurs.....

Yes, Jurgen, there are a wide variety of reasons why this failure occurs, which is why it's so difficult to diagnose (and explains why this thread is now 24 pages long and still growing).

Thanks for posting the solution that worked for you so that others might benefit (and congratulations for finding the problem!).

Hi,

Well I'm here to join the "restart after mup.sys" club ...
I did get a blue screen before it shut off, however I never had a chance to reed it, it went out so quick.
I read the pages, but now, before I could even try more things, I can't even turn on the laptop anymore. Am I the only one who took this to the "next level"? The only thing I did was I put my memory into an other slot and back.
Also, just for the record, yes, I have a clean XP, it came with the machine when I bought it. And there were no hardware changes either ever since. I'm usually a DIY guy, but this problem is killing me!!!

Thank you, any help is appreciated!!!

I'm sorry I wasn't clear in my original post. My solution is not relevant to any other situation, and specifically does not relate to the BSOD. Please note the changed subject wording.

Looking back from page 22 of this thread we have 45 posts of which 16 are irrelevant or do not reflect this exact situation, 13 have been blamed on hardware and been corrected, 2 have occurred on non-standard machines (Toshiba and Compaq) and 12 posts which specifically refer to my (revised) topic.

Paul's system failed 7 times over a month and he presumably reinstalled XP 6 times. He makes no mention of 'Safe Mode', so its hard to say if this is his problem. Simon's system worked perfectly until he took it to a LAN party where it may have picked up something nasty. The most interesting comment comes from Gayle-"It has come back about every 45 days, usually about a week after she gets around to updating with SP2". This is completely consistent with incremental uploading of "Security Upgrades" after installing SP2.

The remaining ten people report that, after re-installing XP they have had no further problems with 'Safe Mode'. When I set up a system the internet connection is usually one of the last things I do. Remembering that MS currently downloads 24 seperate upgrades, that not everybody goes on the internet for lengthy periods or even daily, it's not surprising that the error can sometimes take a week or more to appear, and even then is not discovered until the user tries to boot into Safe Mode.

It seems at least possible that some BSOD errors may also be introduced downline, in which case my original conclusions (on page 24 of this thread) still apply. I still believe MS "Security Updates" are a menace, that a full suite of freeware programs provides better protection, and that the freeware software does not spy (or at least spies less) on your computer.

So my 'fix' would indeed only have helped 11 or 12 users. Has anybody attempted to duplicate my results on known good hardware yet?

Hi all, I couldn't be without a computer for more than a day, so I took it to a service. I've been told it was acting up because corrupted sectors on the HD. Now I'm back in business, I just figured I put this here

This looks to me like something that Microsoft have to answer for, I hope they are aware of this thread, read it and take it serious.