Jim Runkey said:


ok i was originally using a usb wireless keyboard, it wouldn't boot, it would stop on no keyboard error, so i switched to a ps2 keyboard and it recognized that, i went in and turned off the usb interface, audio interface, midi interface, lan interface, modem interface and also switched out the graphics card, since i had formatted my os, i am trying to run an install on this using my xp cd, but it still freezes after it loads the drivers, and is attempting to start windows....

Was having the exact same problem with an HP Pavillion A1324N (Piece of Crap).

Went into the BIOS setup and discovered that the primary VGA device was set to "PCI Card" when there was not one present. I changed the setting to "Onboard" and then was able to boot.

chris mateu said:

you hit enter to do a repair install of windows not the recovery concole. then it will ask you to hit F8 for the Microsoft BS and then it will give you the option to repair install windows.
But if you are having lockups on the mup.sys file you can go in the Recovery con and rename the file in C:\windows\system32\drivers. do not delete file! Remember never del system files you name need them later. If you rename it it should let you back in to windows. then check the boot log and see what is realy causing the probem on the system.

Wes - you havn't tried a different Hard disk to load the OS in the same system. Simply re-formatting may not fix the disk.

Hi
I'm also getting this problem on a PC at work. An IBM A30 MT-M 8131 74G.

Here's the problem:
Windows XP SP2 freezes on startup on mup.sys, this was found when trying to boot into safe mode. I have also found that the machine will not boot into the windows setup from a CD-ROM it just freezes on 'starting windows..'

Heres what i have tried

-I have tried changing the HDD with another pc's with no change
-disabling alot of the BIOS settings, trying various BIOS settings, resetting the BIOS settings to see if this would get it to work.
-I have tried unplugging all of the other perhipherals such as floppy and cd-rom (sound and vga is all onboard)
-I have tried changing the RAM for fresh
-Changing all the IDE cables etc for fresh ones
-I have also got a new system board and installed this after consultation with a IBM tech support person, which has not worked either.

I'm starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel, i cant disable mup.sys as i cant get into the windows setup. Any ideas?

More often then not, this is simply a bad or no driver for a hardware interface.

In your BIOS, disable everything you can and still have a working system.

Sound, USB, Firewire, Ethernet, un-used Raid, drive controllers, etc....

If you recently added hardware, you might have to go so far as physically removing it and booting without it. This includes unplugging un-needed USB (biggest offender, followed by firewire).

It's annoying and tedious, but you usually can get in.

Once in, run the driver/install packages for your MB any any new hardware. Re-enable those interfaces (one at a time if your still having problems.) and try to boot normally. With any luck you'll be seeing NEW HARDWARE FOUND messages.

Still no luck on reboot?

**CAUTION, this is a digital lobotomy and brute force***
Do not do this unless you have confidence and time to deal with peaky tweaky PC stuff, and/or have a 12yo nerdlet handy.

Be sure you have all your drivers handy, you'll need them.

Disable everything, go in, navigate to /windows/inf and /windows/inf/other and delete anything OEM*.PNF and OEM*.INF

Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware go to town and delete everything you can from the hardware list. If you have a System Resources>BIOS, do that first as some MB's will take most of the entries with it. Do Mouse/KB Last as you need them to use the system.

Your system now knows nothing about your hardware, and you probably deleted everything until it froze. Reboot. It should start re-detecting all your hardware and asking for drivers.

Use the vendor supplied drivers where possible, not Microsoft. I think many of these problems stem from a default driver not understanding some quirk of the hardware.

I wrote a huge message on this and more about a year ago.

Hi,

I made the mistake of updating the motherboard in my PC which had a pre-installed OEM version of XP and as with a lot of other people here, the system hangs and reboots after mup.sys.

I've read through the vast majority of this thread and have seen others with this problem but never an actual solution.

As far as I can tell, my options are limited to getting a new full version of XP/Vista (which I would prefer not to do due to the cost/principal).

Is this my only option and if so, can I get away with a new OEM version from the people that sold me my motherboard (and if so, will this let me repair the drive so I don't lose everything on there)?

Any help/advice would be appreciated!

P.S. I wish I'd seen this thread before I bought the motherboard!!!

Ian Bedwell said: This specific problem (upgrading mobo/CPU on an existing WinXP install) is well-documented in many places on the Web and has, in fact, been specifically explained (by me) at least a dozen times throughout this thread. Here it is, one more time, but in shorthand.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824125
http://www.theeldergeek.com/replace_motherboard.htm

A google search for "upgrade motherboard windows xp" will get you more information if you'd like.

Jim,

I did search, I thought quite extensively before posting and none of them have a specific answer to my problem as the discs I have won't give me a repair option, in fact the XP discs I have won't bring up any type of console for me to even attempt it, even when the system is attempting to boot directly from them.

The links you have given me basically tell me that I shouldn't have attempted to do what I have, that's fine, I can accept I've made a mistake, what I would like to know is, how can I correct it?

Ian Bedwell said: The links I gave you tell you exactly what you need to do to correct it. The "eldergeek" link even has screen shots to show you exactly what options to select on each screen you'll see.

Bottom line: You need a WindowsXP install disc. If you don't have one, you need to get one. Strictly speaking, your OEM license for Windows is valid for the OEM configuration you purchased. When you change the configuration such that the OS requires reinstallation (i.e., replacing the mobo), you must purchase a new license. You mention something about "priniciple"; I'm not sure what that means. This is how OEM licenses work, and it's exactly why they're less expensive than "full" licenses (OEM licenses are less than half the cost of "full" retail licenses for folks like you and me; they're closer to 1/4 (or less) the cost of "full" licenses to volume manufacturers like Dell or HP).

Once you have an install disc and a valid product key (your original OEM product key (probably on the side or back of your PC) may or may not work), you must perform a "Repair Install" of WinXP per the instructions in either of the links previously provided.

A properly-performed "Repair Install" will preserve all of your installed applications and data.

Have a Dell XPS that's been running flawlessly for nearly a year. I had the bright idea of moving my video capture card from my old computer to the XPS. I installed the card, but the system wouldn't boot. I pulled the card, but it continues to not boot. As with most others in this thread, the last item seen when I boot to Safe Mode is mup.sys.

This is a hair-puller, because the computer was working perfectly before I put the card in, and since I pulled it out immediately, the net result should have been that nothing changed.

Chris Robinson said: It's a tough lesson to learn, but you can't always count on "just pulling the card if it doesn't work".

I have had similar problems in rearranging cards, but in my cases, the computer wouldn't boot past the BIOS self-tests. In those cases, clearing the CMOS settings (which typically involves pressing a button, temporarily moving a jumper, or pulling a battery on the motherboard) resolved the problem.

Since you're getting past the BIOS self-tests, I'm not sure that'll work for you, but if you're familiar with BIOS settings (you might have to reconfigure a few things after you do the reset, since everything will go back to a default setting) it might be worth a try.

If that doesn't work, the next thing I'd do is pull all non-essential cards (i.e., everything but the video card) and see if it boots. If it does, then start adding cards back one at a time until you get back to normal.

No doubt.

I'm totally baffled by this problem, and I'm also surprised that System Restore didn't resolve it. I ran System Restore and went back to Sunday night, but still no joy.

Jim, do you know anything about System Restore? What could still be on the system affecting boot that System Restore doesn't touch?

I'm currently running a chkdsk /r, after the appropriate backing up of course, so I'll try pulling the card once done. I only have 1 other PCI card installed, the sound card.

Chris Robinson said: I didn't suggest that, because I thought if you couldn't boot, you couldn't get to system restore. How'd you get there?

System Restore can only change things on the hard drive--Windows settings, drivers, etc. If you restored to a point before the card was installed and that didn't solve the problem, then the problem must lie elsewhere.

Motherboard CMOS settings are "elsewhere". I strongly recommend you try that. If you aren't sure how to do that, go to http://support.dell.com and type "clear cmos xps {your model #}" in the search field in the upper right corner. You should get a link to the service manual for your computer, which will give you instructions that look something like this (for an XPS 410): http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps410/en/SM_EN/...#wp1055520

Good luck,
Jim

I haven't been as clear as I should have been.

The only way I can boot to Windows is by Safe Mode.

"mup.sys" is (as far as I know) always the last file listed when booting into Safe Mode. The main symptom seen by most posters in this topic is that the machine hangs at that point and will not complete the boot. I assumed that was your case as well.

Hmm.. I must have misunderstood. I thought that file was the last one to be loaded before going into the GUI, regardless of Safe Mode or not. Hmm...

Yes, it is. But it's only listed on the screen when booting to Safe Mode.

Have you tried clearing the CMOS yet?

Kevin Van said:

Thanks for the help, but the fact that the system would not boot into the windows setup was a clue that it was a hardware problem more than a OS problem. In the end i swapped out the CPU with another one and this solved the problem. So it just goes to show that this error could be caused by pretty much ANYTHING!

Yep! I know it hasn't worked for everybody, but it has for me.

Thanks, Jim!