Resolved Win XP Media Center Boot Loop

The following is long winded and full of questions but I can’t find a way to shorten the length. Sorry about that.
System :
Win XP Media Center m7250n SP2 and possibly SP3
Norton Antivirus 2011, Zone Alarm free firewall

Last windows updates, Zone Alarm and Norton done in early June 2011.

Daughter’s HP desktop PC is looping when booted up. I have become her Help desk, but have failed in that I never had her create a rescue disc or regular backups. I do regular backups on my PC.

Have tried every option on the boot menu, but as soon as any particular one is chosen the system lists the drivers. Last driver listed is system32 Drivers mup.sys. The system then appears to be doing something and then goes into sleep mode – says monitor going to sleep and then restarts the boot process.

I have no idea if it is hardware, a virus, or even some downloaded software. The system is about 5 years old. If possible, she does not want to buy a new PC as it is not used that often. I also discovered that she does not always shutdown her PC, but simply turns off the power strip.

There is no rescue disc or initial system disc. The PC came with a separate FAT32 drive D which can be chosen at boot time. However, this will set the system back to its original state. That will destroy all data on the hard disc. I am unable to tell who the hard disc manufacturer is, so don’t know if a way to use a bootable CD/DVD to run disc diagnostic software.
The PC is not used that often, as she mainly uses her work laptop.

I have a Belarc listing from about a month or so after PC was set up, so have some idea of what was on it back in 2006. www.belarc.com

The first priority is to try to save her data – she has many photos and paid for downloaded music which she does not want to lose. Also, there are some older important documents.

I own 2 XP systems. Desktop is a Dell XP Media Center SP3 and the other is a netbook.

I could remove her hard drive, put it in a USB case and read it on my PC. First thing I would do is check for viruses. If no virus and can read it, would then copy all the important things to another external drive to save her data. I also need to see the names of the programs she has installed, so I know what she has installed over time. I know how to get a dir of the files if I can get onto her PC. I am also familiar with MS-DOS commands.

If any chance her data could create virus problems for my PC, I could try the read and copy using my netbook. Not that important, if I have to recreate its system.

Can I create a rescue disc on my Dell and use to boot hers? Could then try to copy her files to a DVD or flash drive to save her data and list her programs.
Can I just use my Dell Windows bootable DVD to boot up her PC?
I have the Dell reinstallation DVD for my PC. Does not install the drivers but just the operating system. Also, have all of the DVDs that came with my Dell for installing Drivers etc., but she has different hardware.

I believe her PC is still set up to read from DVD drive. Have had it try, when accidentally leaving a CD drive when booting up.

Are there bootable programs which can check for a virus? If so, and if it is a virus problem, can I use that to hopefully clear up the problem and try using the PC or will I probably I have to reinstall it all?

Her PC and mine are not in the same houses. She does have wireless access which still works, so that I can at least use my netbook when I am there to read instructions what to do etc.

Assuming I am successful in saving her data, is there a way to try to get her system to work without losing everything, so that I don’t have to reinstall all her programs?
If I manage to boot into her PC, can I then create a rescue disc or something that would allow me to just reinstall windows without losing everything else?. Or is that not a possibility under the circumstances?

Thank You all for any help you can give me.

Jorjab

 

I would start by running a chkdsk /r on all partitions of the hard disk. Remove her hard disk, put it in USB case, attach it to your computer & run chkdsk.

 

I'd boot from an AV disk (it'll sometimes offer to create a boot disk), and follow that path. If no luck, create a boot disk (include copying format & fdisk files also) from your other "working" XP box...use that to boot your "horked" system, and do some xcopy's of her files/music to a medium of choice. There's still some clean-up to do sure, but it should get you her important files before beginning to rebuild your bad system. (bw)

 

I plan to try the AV software first as suggested by billwiz1
will use "the create the Kaspersky bootable" version found at
http://http://www.techmixer.com/kaspersky-rescue-disk-2010/

The following web site provided several choices of bootable antivirus routines, from which I chose the Kaspersky.
http://http://www.techmixer.com/free-bootable-antivirus-rescue-cds-download-list/

If that does not work, then, as suggested by rsinfo will go the route of removing the drive etc.

Will have to wait about a week in order to try, as not available to do till after the 11th of September.

I will post again after I try anything.

Thanks you for the suggestions.

If anyone else has any other suggestions, please feel free to volunteer them!

 

I found that I have a bootable Dell Resource CD that will run hardware diagnostics . Is it possible for me to use that on the HP PC? Can I hurt anything by trying it?

Thanks

 

A Dell cd won't work on any other PC. No harm in trying though.

 

Kaspersky Rescue disk did not work. Would go partway thru and then give me errors, indicating that the system had not been properly shut down and that needed to be done before using the rescue disk.
Tried to save the system configuration to a USB flash drive, that Kaspersky let me choose, but that came up with error when trying to save.
Message was " file system cannot be mounted. "
When I canceled and tried to have it shut the system down, that just hung.
Another path, within the Graphic mode, said it could not continue. Then ejected the CD but then also just looped instead of shutting down.

At this point, I believe the only thing to do is remove the hard drive disk and try to get the data off of it, as mentioned that I would do.

Did not try the Dell rescue disk as I don't want to mess around too much.

Will wait a day in case anyone wants to add anything more. Then I will mark as closed, not solved tho.

Once I get the data saved, I can always post a link back later, if I find out anything of significance - such as the cause of the loop.

Thanks for your help.

 

Your file system has errors.

Run chkdsk /f on all your partitions as already posted in #2.

 

I had planned to do that after I remove the drive as well as run any other diagnostics on it!. That wont get done till next week.
I was juts trying to explain that the rescue disc option did not work.
Once I have copied all of the data, then I plan to use the HP drive that will boot to reinstall everything that came with it and then just install what is needed. Better at this point ot clean it all up and get back to an initial state. then do appropriate updates.

 

I thought everyone who might read this post would like to know how this finally was solved. Was the easiest overall for me.

The way I had this problem finally fixed , was to pay a private computer professional to fix the boot problem. He removed the hard drive and put it in one of his computers as an extra drive. Then he fixed the boot and registry and whatever else (I'm not completely sure what). Also, cleaned up some extraneous things not needed and updated to latest windows updates. This was worth the $85 he charged, as this was not something I could figure out. He saved all the data as well. (some store professionals would have fixed,but wiped out the data and charge upward of $175 just to backup the data.)
All is in good working order and actually running faster. I gave my daughter an external hard drive to do regular backups in the future and strict instructions to shut down her PC instead of just turning it off.

I guess the moral is that sometimes it is easier to let someone else fix the problem for a small fee.