Can't get XP Professional to boot

This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the quick
flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP Windows startup
screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and decided to deal with it
when I returned home. Now I can't get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I chose to
startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in the same place. So
I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went through loading the drivers
until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze. Then I tried putting the original
installation CD in and rebooted from the CD. Windows started to load all the
drivers. When it tried to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting
here for the last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing today.

HS Dad

What is the computer make and model? Is it a desktop or a laptop? Do you
own a second computer? If yes is it a desktop or laptop?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
marriedhsdad wrote:
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP
Windows startup screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and
decided to deal with it when I returned home. Now I can't get into
the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I
chose to startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in
the same place. So I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went
through loading the drivers until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze.
Then I tried putting the original installation CD in and rebooted
from the CD. Windows started to load all the drivers. When it tried
to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting here for the last
hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing
today.

HS Dad

"marriedhsdad" wrote in message
...
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick
flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP Windows
startup
screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and decided to deal with
it
when I returned home. Now I can't get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I chose to
startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in the same place.
So
I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went through loading the
drivers
until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze. Then I tried putting the original
installation CD in and rebooted from the CD. Windows started to load all
the
drivers. When it tried to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting
here for the last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing today.

HS Dad


Your Windows installation is *probably* OK
so do NOT fool with it.

It looks like a hardware problem...

Check your cooling fans...especially the one on the CPU cooler and video
card (if you a video card with a fan on it)

Also, if the fans are OK

run a RAM test

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

"philo" wrote:

It looks like a hardware problem...

Quite possible. Will be very difficult for a home user to diagnose.

Check your cooling fans...especially the one on the CPU cooler and video
card (if you a video card with a fan on it)

Also, if the fans are OK

Moronic recommendation. Think about it: the problem occurred on a
computer that had been shutdown for a couple days too. i.e., it was
COLD.

run a RAM test

good start.

A web search yields lots of information, including:

"How to fix an XP\Win 2000 System that freezes after loading mup.sys
while booting"
http://www.aitechsolutions.net/mupdotsysXPhang.html

Unless you can think of a likely cause for your problem (e.g., recent
change to hardware or software), and if you don't think of yourself as
particularly geek-esque, this may be a diagnosis best made by a
professional. I would definitely recommend against the inclination to
'try this and try that and see what happens'.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare Humanum Est

Security Tips for Everyone, from PC Magazine
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2334856,00.asp

marriedhsdad wrote:
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the quick
flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP Windows startup
screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and decided to deal with it
when I returned home. Now I can't get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I chose to
startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in the same place. So
I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went through loading the drivers
until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze. Then I tried putting the original
installation CD in and rebooted from the CD. Windows started to load all the
drivers. When it tried to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting
here for the last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing today.

HS Dad

It is one I built myself 3 years ago. It has an AMD 2400 processor with 2G
RAM. It's a desktop. Yes I have three other computers... Two desktops and one
laptop.

"Gerry" wrote:

What is the computer make and model? Is it a desktop or a laptop? Do you
own a second computer? If yes is it a desktop or laptop?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
marriedhsdad wrote:
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP
Windows startup screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and
decided to deal with it when I returned home. Now I can't get into
the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I
chose to startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in
the same place. So I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went
through loading the drivers until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze.
Then I tried putting the original installation CD in and rebooted
from the CD. Windows started to load all the drivers. When it tried
to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting here for the last
hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing
today.

HS Dad

If I could ge that far I would do it. Tried to start with XP startup disks
rather than CD. It froze after loading all the drivers. I have removed the
side panel of the computer to alieviate any heat buildup. The fans are
working just fine.

"philo" wrote:


"marriedhsdad" wrote in message
...
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick
flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP Windows
startup
screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and decided to deal with
it
when I returned home. Now I can't get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I chose to
startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in the same place.
So
I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went through loading the
drivers
until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze. Then I tried putting the original
installation CD in and rebooted from the CD. Windows started to load all
the
drivers. When it tried to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting
here for the last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing today.

HS Dad


Your Windows installation is *probably* OK
so do NOT fool with it.

It looks like a hardware problem...

Check your cooling fans...especially the one on the CPU cooler and video
card (if you a video card with a fan on it)

Also, if the fans are OK

run a RAM test

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

You could remove the hard disk from the computer and put it in another
desktop as a slave drive. An alternative is put the drive in a external
cradle linked to another computer. Often you can then read / access the
drive. This one way to recover data but also you can look at Event
Viewer reports and logs to see what brought the computer to a halt.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

The file you will be interested in is SysEvent.evt located i
??\windows\system32\config. Make sure it is dated when the computer
failed.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

marriedhsdad wrote:
It is one I built myself 3 years ago. It has an AMD 2400 processor
with 2G RAM. It's a desktop. Yes I have three other computers... Two
desktops and one laptop.

"Gerry" wrote:

What is the computer make and model? Is it a desktop or a laptop? Do
you own a second computer? If yes is it a desktop or laptop?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
marriedhsdad wrote:
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town
for Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed
the quick flash to restart the computer. As it was going through
the XP Windows startup screen, the system froze again. I closed it
down and decided to deal with it when I returned home. Now I can't
get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I
chose to startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in
the same place. So I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went
through loading the drivers until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze.
Then I tried putting the original installation CD in and rebooted
from the CD. Windows started to load all the drivers. When it tried
to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting here for the
last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing
today.

HS Dad

"Big D" wrote in message
...
"philo" wrote:

It looks like a hardware problem...

Quite possible. Will be very difficult for a home user to diagnose.

Check your cooling fans...especially the one on the CPU cooler and video
card (if you a video card with a fan on it)

Also, if the fans are OK

Moronic recommendation. Think about it: the problem occurred on a
computer that had been shutdown for a couple days too. i.e., it was
COLD.

No you are quite wrong there.
depending on the type of CPU...without a working fan
the machine will heat up very fast...


I had one on my bench that I was working on and got some wires caught in the
fan.
It shut down so fast the machine never even booted up.

Even if the fan turned out to be OK...it's a good precaution

run a RAM test

good start.

"marriedhsdad" wrote in message
...
If I could ge that far I would do it. Tried to start with XP startup disks
rather than CD. It froze after loading all the drivers. I have removed the
side panel of the computer to alieviate any heat buildup. The fans are
working just fine.



OK

I figured it was probably not a case of overheating
but figured it's better to be safe than sorry

time to run a RAM test

or substitute with known good RAM



"philo" wrote:


"marriedhsdad" wrote in message
...
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick
flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP Windows
startup
screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and decided to deal
with
it
when I returned home. Now I can't get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I chose
to
startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in the same
place.
So
I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went through loading the
drivers
until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze. Then I tried putting the
original
installation CD in and rebooted from the CD. Windows started to load
all
the
drivers. When it tried to start Windows, it froze again. It's been
sitting
here for the last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing
today.

HS Dad


Your Windows installation is *probably* OK
so do NOT fool with it.

It looks like a hardware problem...

Check your cooling fans...especially the one on the CPU cooler and video
card (if you a video card with a fan on it)

Also, if the fans are OK

run a RAM test

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

"philo" wrote:

OK

I figured it was probably not a case of overheating
but figured it's better to be safe than sorry

Yeah, right.

marriedhsdad wrote:
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP
Windows startup screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and
decided to deal with it when I returned home. Now I can't get into
the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I
chose to startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in
the same place. So I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went
through loading the drivers until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze.
Then I tried putting the original installation CD in and rebooted
from the CD. Windows started to load all the drivers. When it tried
to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting here for the last
hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing
today.

HS Dad

"marriedhsdad" later adds...
It is one I built myself 3 years ago. It has an AMD 2400 processor with 2G
RAM. It's a desktop. Yes I have three other computers... Two desktops and
one
laptop.

"marriedhsdad" later adds...
If I could ge that far I would do it. Tried to start with XP startup disks
rather than CD. It froze after loading all the drivers. I have removed the
side panel of the computer to alieviate any heat buildup. The fans are
working just fine.


HS Dad:
While this could very well be a hardware problem as others have suggested,
it's quite possible the problem is not hardware-related but involves a
corrupt OS.

You mentioned that you "rebooted from the (XP OS installation) CD" but that
when you "tried to start Windows, it froze again".

Are you indicating that when you boot to the XP installation CD you are
unable to reach the XP Setup screen display? It's a bit unclear from your
original description of the problem because you refer to the system
"start(ing) to load all the drivers" as you boot to the XP installation CD.

Then again you refer to using "XP startup disks rather than CD". Are you
referring to the series of floppy disks containing the XP OS installation
program?

In any event, if you *are* able to reach the XP Setup screen, hopefully
you'll be able to run a Repair install of the OS, so that if you are able to
do so and the problem is not hardware-related but is one of a not-terribly
corrupt OS, perhaps the Repair install will return the system to a bootable,
functional system.

It's entirely possible I may be misunderstanding the precise nature of your
problem but I thought I'd mention the above as a possibility for your
consideration in the event you are able to reach the Setup screen via the XP
OS installation CD. I assume you know how to undertake a Repair install of
the OS.
Anna

=?Utf-8?B?bWFycmllZGhzZGFk?=
wrote in
:

This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town
for Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed
the quick flash to restart the computer. As it was going through
the XP Windows startup screen, the system froze again. I closed it
down and decided to deal with it when I returned home. Now I can't
get into the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I
chose to startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in
the same place. So I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer
went through loading the drivers until it came to "mup.sys" and it
froze. Then I tried putting the original installation CD in and
rebooted from the CD. Windows started to load all the drivers.
When it tried to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting
here for the last hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this
thing today.

HS Dad

Try booting from a free live Linux CD/DVD such as Knoppix.
You can also try booting using the "Ultimate Boot CD for Windows"
(UBCD4Win).

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
http://www.ubcd4win.com/

HTH,
John

"Snidley W." wrote in message
...
"philo" wrote:

OK

I figured it was probably not a case of overheating
but figured it's better to be safe than sorry

Yeah, right.


Idiot


***PLONK***

Anna,

When booting from the original installation CD, the set of 6 floppies or
from the C drive, I never get to the XP setup screen. When using either form
of installation, the computer hangs when it says it is loading Windows.

"Anna" wrote:


marriedhsdad wrote:
This problem started just before we were to leave for out of town for
Thanksgiving.

I had been working on something and the computer froze. I pressed the
quick flash to restart the computer. As it was going through the XP
Windows startup screen, the system froze again. I closed it down and
decided to deal with it when I returned home. Now I can't get into
the machine.

I tried to open it normally and it froze in the same place. So I
chose to startup from the last known boot that worked. It froze in
the same place. So I tried to start in Safe Mode. The computer went
through loading the drivers until it came to "mup.sys" and it froze.
Then I tried putting the original installation CD in and rebooted
from the CD. Windows started to load all the drivers. When it tried
to start Windows, it froze again. It's been sitting here for the last
hour and nothing has occurred.

What should I try now? I'm frustrated and NEED to access this thing
today.

HS Dad

"marriedhsdad" later adds...
It is one I built myself 3 years ago. It has an AMD 2400 processor with 2G
RAM. It's a desktop. Yes I have three other computers... Two desktops and
one
laptop.

"marriedhsdad" later adds...
If I could ge that far I would do it. Tried to start with XP startup disks
rather than CD. It froze after loading all the drivers. I have removed the
side panel of the computer to alieviate any heat buildup. The fans are
working just fine.


HS Dad:
While this could very well be a hardware problem as others have suggested,
it's quite possible the problem is not hardware-related but involves a
corrupt OS.

You mentioned that you "rebooted from the (XP OS installation) CD" but that
when you "tried to start Windows, it froze again".

Are you indicating that when you boot to the XP installation CD you are
unable to reach the XP Setup screen display? It's a bit unclear from your
original description of the problem because you refer to the system
"start(ing) to load all the drivers" as you boot to the XP installation CD.

Then again you refer to using "XP startup disks rather than CD". Are you
referring to the series of floppy disks containing the XP OS installation
program?

In any event, if you *are* able to reach the XP Setup screen, hopefully
you'll be able to run a Repair install of the OS, so that if you are able to
do so and the problem is not hardware-related but is one of a not-terribly
corrupt OS, perhaps the Repair install will return the system to a bootable,
functional system.

It's entirely possible I may be misunderstanding the precise nature of your
problem but I thought I'd mention the above as a possibility for your
consideration in the event you are able to reach the Setup screen via the XP
OS installation CD. I assume you know how to undertake a Repair install of
the OS.
Anna