XP hangs after initial setup on MUP.sys every time!

I have the barebones essentials installed (see below) and am trying to install windows xp or 2000, but neither will run. I ran the boot floppies and installed both operating systems on different partitions on the same WD drive, and setup went fine until I restarted. Then whenever i booted into the OS it would hang at the starting windows screen on both XP and 2000. Upon starting it in safe mode, it stops at MUP.sys in BOTH cases (xp and 2000 installations) and the computer locks up. I tried installing just XP on ANOTHER freshly formatted and NTFS partitioned brand new Western Digital IDE hard drive and got the same result. So I updated my motherboards bios to the latest version but to no avail as I still get the same problem. I swapped out the memory with new memory, hoping that would be the culprit but still a no go. The memory is good because it works on another computer fine. I even replaced the video card with a PCI based Number Nine Revolution 3D card but still get the same error.

I even used the fail safe bios configuration settings but that didn't help any. It won't get past MUP.sys Do I need this file? Is this one file causing the problems or is it just a red herring and just happens to stop loading at that file? I'm at a loss right now. I have no idea what to do. The only thing I haven't replaced or swapped out is the motherboard and the processor, and I really don't want to do that since thats the $600.00 heart of the system and the only reason I'm still on the P3 bandwagon. I hope there is a software solution/configuration that would remedy the problem but all signs point to a hardware glitch, don't you think? Any suggestions on what I can try to get the comp to boot into the OS? I'm about to throw the entire box out the window in frustration.


Specs:

Supermicro PIIIDM3 Motherboard Bios Revision 1.5
Pentium III 500Mhz
Western Digital 80gb HD
Plextor UltraPlex 40x max scsi cd-rom
1 GB PC133 Memory (2) 512mb simms
Diamond Viper Ultra Video Card

I've researched the mup.sys problem on the web and ive found that quite a few people have had a problem with this file but could not find any answers or possible solutions to even try other than swapping out hardware, renaming the file or disabling it.

I have swapped out and replaced the following:

Memory
Hard drive (clean install on brand new hard drive)
Video Card

Not swapped out:

Motherboard
Processor
Cd-Rom

Disabled:

Onboard SCSI
Onboard Sound
Onboard NIC

Still I have the same problem with everything enabled, disabled. Could it be a problem with the motherboard? I will try to install windows 98 and see if that boots up fine, but win2000 and xp both hang at the mup.sys file.

I tried to disable all the power management features in the bios because someone suggested that may help, but whenever i try to access the power management menu the computer locks up. I can access and change things in the other menu's, but not power management. Any idea what this might signify?


I've heard that not loading the mup.sys might lend something to a solution, albeit temporary, but I do not see any options on the xp boot mode menu when i press F8 or Shift+ F5 to load files one by one. Should there be one?! I'm running out of things to do, check or replace!

Thanks for reading this, and I appreciate any sort of response as I am about to just junk this comp and start from scratch. Its so frustrating.

 

Multiple UNC Provider (MUP.sys) shouldn't enter into things until you are running and dealing with networking. Unless you have a hardware component whose drivers want to begin phoning home before you are fully loaded or something. Strange.

I would tend to agree with your guess of hardware problem. But you have replaced the usual suspects without any help.

Have you checked to see if your mobo is on the approved hardware list for either 2K or XP?

As a couple of general notes based on what you mentioned in your post:

If you are going to want to dual boot, you need to install 2K first and then XP after 2K is working.

Floppies? Why not boot from the CD? Much easier load and more likely to work.

Were it me I'd stuff in the 2K CD, set the BIOS to try the CD drive first at boot time, clobber everything that is there, repartition and load 2K.

Since your problems are with the UNC resolver subsystem, maybe try the first time to load without any network support at all.

 

Jackol


Newt is correct about MUP!

But it isin't MUP that is locking up! When you see MUP it has already loaded! It is the next driver after MUP, but since it locks there you don't see it!

Look at the boot logs! Try to find what is after MUP!

Good luck,

Mike

 

The motherboard has to be compatible since i was running xp for a few months before this problem came up. Come to think of it, it hung on mup.sys or the file after it when i had everything up and running fine. One day it just hung and that was that so i figured I would start over from scratch, but the problem still persists.

I wiped everything out again and installed 2000 on its own partition on a newly formatted hard drive. Still the same result. How do i check my boot logs? I think some piece of hardware got hosed because it hangs at the same point during XP and 2000 installs. I'm gonna try to install 98 and see if that works and will post my results for that soon.

I still cant find the option to load each file one by one (step by step confirmation?). I saw it on 98, but not on 2000 or XP's boot menu. Am i missing something obvious? All i see is debug mode which doesnt do anything for me either.

 

Jackol

If you have NTFS and XP is not booting then unless you can get to the root of the boot drive you will not be able to access the logs yet! At least without special utilities! When I told you this I had not thought it through!

Try this! Try booting into safe mode and watch closely when it stops at mup hit enter then ESC! If this works at all it needs to be done quickly after it pauses at mup. Wait to long and it may get to your freze point! See if it the continues!

I can tell you for sure that it is a hardware driver problem most likely related to the HD or HD controller!

Below are suggestions if you do decide to reinstall again!

Do you have a driver disk for your disk controller?

If so you need to get the drivers on a floppy! When installing XP if it cannot detect your drive it will give you a prompt to hit F6 to install a specfic HD controller!

Sometime it thinks it recognises the controller but really does not do so correctly so you may not get this prompt! So if it don't give you the prompt what you have to do here is wait untill install says inspecting hardware etc. An begin to tap the F6 key so it will give you that prompt.

It will ask for a floppy (for some strange reason will not allow you to browse to a CD) then put in your floppy! In fact most ULTRA DMA install CDs have a function to make this very disk! So basiclly you need these drivers earlier for install to fully recognise the device later!

If you don't have these drivers get online and find them at the motherboard MFG or the controller MFG!

Next! I would suggest you also use "DOS" oh, oh (but we don't need or use that any more do we!) fdisk and clear the drive, repartition and format "with "DOS" system" to fat32 so that it will boot to a dos command prompt of C:! Don't worry you can easily convert to NTFS later if you want!

Then install XP keep the fat32!

Maybe this is enough ammo for now huh!

Let me know something!

Mike

 

This may be a VERY WILD guess.

I do agree to it being a possible Hardware problem.

But is there any possibility ( even remotely ) that there is a PCI WinModem involed that is absolutley REFUSING to allow the proper Hardware settings to be applied.

I also have had problems that pointed to the network but the Modem was causing it.

I know ( or hear ) that XP ani't supposed to do this kind of ****. But A WinModem may have something else to say.

A PCI Modem is the ONE & ONLY piece of hardware that has ever caused an install ( or re-install ) problem for me.

Again this may just be a wild guess. But it is my 2cents worth.

BillyBob

 

Yes I agree! Absolutly!

In this case WinModem is the key word! I hate the guy that came up with that idea!

In addition to dogging some of the CPU cycles they can cause irq conflicts!

For anyone who don't know, a winmodem is short a few bricks in the head (like me) some hardware chips were left off and windows has to fill in (cheaper modem) and now winmodem no work in DOS requires windows.

But no body ever needs DOS again right! RIGHT!!

And definately are sometimes hard to get installed and even harder if you are replacing anonther one even with the same brand sometimes!

I still will only use a full chipset dos compatable modem if given a choice!

So yes remove it! Before trying to reinstall! And anything else that is not nessesary to install and run!

Mike

 

Jackol

May be just another one of my Wild Ideas.

But if you are thinking at all about Dual Booting ( any two OS ) I would give some SERIOUS thought to UPGRADING to an External Serial Port Modem.

An Internal may work fine in one OS but refuse to even be seen in the other.

In Short. They can be a REAL PITA.

BillyBob

 

Haven't had a modem in over two years. Love my broadband access. Have two nics in my system but i disabled the onboard nic and took out the other one to minimize potential problems.

I installed windows 98 and it loaded fine and i have no problems booting into the OS and installing/running programs on it. I installed it on a FAT partition.

I tried installing XP on a newly partitioned 8gb fat32 partition next but it still hangs on the mup.sys file when i go to boot it up.

I swapped out that hard drive and put in a brand new WD 80gb drive and partitioned a 5gb NTFS file and tried installing NT Workstation 4 but it hangs on the blue kernel screen where it shows the processor and memory at the very top on 2 lines. Does this every time. I don't want NT 4 but i figured what the hell might as well try it. Forget it.

Next I tried Windows 2000 again on another partition (fat32 this time) and still a problem with Mup.sys or the file after it.

What gives? How come windows98 is the only OS that will install? Does it have something to do with the Western Digital Hard drive and onboard IDE controller? I don't need to hit F6 to install drivers as i set it up fine without a disk b efore. Should i buy a PCI based IDE controller and try installing the OS's using that? I'm going to contact the Motherboard manufacturer (supermicro) and pose the problem to them. I will post the results of that if i ever get a response. Does anybody have any other suggestions on things to try in the meantime? I think i tried what you guys suggested so far. Does this sound like a faulty IDE controller or mobo problem or what. This is hurting my brain arrgh.

Oh yeah I tried DOS but it wouldnt even boot up to it. I will try it again on another hard drive.

 

Hi Jackol

Yes win2k and Xp have very stringent requirements to know about the HD and controller that is why win98 is ok!

Usually the HD itself, especialy an industry standad like western digital is not the problem. It often is the controller though!

If it is an onboard MB controller though I would try to go to the MB mfg web site and see if there are updated and or XP drivers for it and use the F6 to install these!

If not try another controller!

I will be here to help farther if needed!

Mike

 

Jackol


Give us a status here! How can we make a bill for the charges if we don't know it is fixed! Smile!

Mike

 

I know this thread is old, but I'd like to post my experience in case it may help others. I was having a very similar problem installing XP on an ASUS Terminator (barebones system).

I got it to work by turning off ACPI. You do this by pressing F5 when it says that setup is examining your computer's hardware. This takes you to a screen which lets you pick 'Standard PC' instead of 'ACPI Uniprocessor PC'. You may have luck with the other ACPI option (the one that doesn't say Uniprocessor or Multiprocessor), but I did not.

I believe that something was wrong with the way that ACPI gives out IRQs to the SiS900 network interface. I had linux on this same machine, and in order to get the network interface to work, I had to also turn off ACPI (although it was *much* easier to diagnose and accomplish).

 

Next thing to load after mup.sys is HD controler and video.

 

Most times it is the motherboard chipset drivers that are first (after mup.sys), which most often do include the video and hd controller. But not always.

mike