superqueen

Hi there I didn't want to ask for help and run - but thanks to everybody for your advice and suggestions. I managed to use the SATA/USB cable to get everything off my hard drive and then used the recovery disk to start afresh. Interestingly enough, I had the same problem happen yesterday and I had to re-format!!! Don't know what's going on, but that SATA cable has paid for itself many times over. Thanks again for your assistance.

Hullo all you lovely helpful people My brother is coming to Malawi from a more civilized place and he is bringing me a SATA/USB cable. Will that allow me to get everything off so that I can then use the recovery disk? Hoping and hoping....

@jaclaz: just wanted to let you know I haven't abandoned this post - just have a busy hotel at the moment. I found something else out - when I looked at the recovery disk info, it tells me that the laptop came loaded with XP Home, not Pro. My fiance (who's old laptop it is) then told me he go XP Pro from his brother's disk ages ago. Can you please tell me if this will create a problem and make getting the DIR files obsolete? @tripredacus: I thought the same, as I have been told that by a few people already. I don't know how to do a step-by-step boot, so will wait to see if I must carry on with jaclaz's operation

Hi! @jaclaz: it would not allow me to terminate explorer.exe and I got the same result as before when typing in the longer command. Busy doing the DIR bit - will post results soon. @cdob: the drivers before Mup.sys are: 1394BUS, ohci1394, NDIS, Ntfs, KSecDD, PxHelp20, DRVMCDB, sr, fltmgr, CLASSPNP, disk, atapi, VolSnap and a few more (not sure if you want the whole list?). These are in order from the first one above Mup, going upwards. I can use my USB mouse, but I have disconnected all USB devices from the laptop.

Thanks jaclaz! Will get working on that and hopefully come back with a successful result. I'm a bit slow (and running the lodge with a new baby!) so will probably be back sometime tomorrow Thanks very very much! Lauren

Forgot to mention I also have a netbook which has no CD/DVD drive but is working perfectly with Windows7 (also already installed, no disk).

OK, I did those step by step instructions and as soon as I press OK, the New Task box vanishes, apart from a little bit stuck on the screen . After a while, that vanishes and I am left with a blank Task Manager box - it just has its frame with the title and minimise/close buttons. And everything is frozen again - I can't close the Task Manager, it gives me the End Now option, but when I click End Now it just brings up that darn dinosaur. To answer the rest: Yes, I have the Toshiba recovery disk. The other machine I am working on is a Mac. Can I make a DIR /S on a Mac, and if I can, will you tell me how? I can burn CD/DVD on the Mac. I also have various memory sticks and another 500G hard drive which is not spider-ridden

Hi. I am at a dead end again....any advice on where to go next? Thanks

Heya submix8c. Good morning from my neck of the woods! Sorry, I never mentioned that I had tried that already (last good config) Same problemo. Will go to read that article now. And will check for spiders as best as possible - just scared to take things apart in case I end up with one screw left over when putting them back... Thanks everyone for your patient manner in explaining things.

I had to take a movie of the whole process because it was still doing the auto restart from BSOD. My movie was a bit chopped off on the left, but the Technical info at the bottom says the following as far as I can see: STOP: 0x0000000A (0xF7co7354, 0x000000FF, 0x00000001, 0x804E2E51) Hope that means something.... Thanks!

Finally got it on F8 - hang on a minute...

Hi jaclaz - only refreshed after replying to the first responder. Thanks to you too! I have tried to do various tasks in Task manager, but each time they create a freeze. The only thing I can do is delete processes (I deleted random ones like Avast and Google updater, just to check). Anything which requires a response from the computer creates a freeze. I can normally still click Start to open up the menu, but also cannot select anything on the menu. I am so confused! I have read about 50 different forum topics today and nobody has a problem quite like this, so have tried bits and pieces from all over to no avail. Any suggestions welcome. I'm holding thumbs!

Thanks so much for replying! I now have a new problem - although I am tapping F8 like a madwoman, it just does a normal startup and goes to my desktop as usual. While I was waiting for a response here, I clicked the normal Shut Down button on the Start menu and it tried to shut down but one of those "ending program" boxes popped up and after I let it run, I had to choose the End Now option. The program was apparently called TPSMainWnd. When I tried Googling it, I got some weird stuff popping up - you know, like random words strung together with that program name inbetween. Is it possible this is a virus or something? Will keep trying to get into the startup modes page...

I have a Toshiba Satellite A100-529 running XP Pro SP3. 2 nights ago I shut down as usual. yesterday morning I started up and everything was normal. My desktop loaded as per usual but I could not select ANYTHING on it. The only thing I can do is open Avast from the tray and run a general scan which says everything is ok, and I can open up the Start menu, but not select anything, and I can open up the Task Manager which shows a bunch of processes happening but no applications, and I can open up a Run command box but nothing happens. The hourglass keeps spinning (or in this case, the dinosaur keeps walking). I tried to start in Safe mode but I get along list of drivers on a black page, ending in multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\Mup.sys. If I leave that onscreen for a few minutes, it then flashes to a BSOD, saying Windows has encountered an error and needs to restart (can't see the rest) and then goes back to the screen asking me which mode to start in and when I select Safe mode again, it then starts up and goes to the desktop which doesn't work again. I can see everything just sitting there, and I can't access a single thing! I do not have an XP disk, as my old laptop came already installed. I am in Africa in the middle of nowhere and am a total amateur who can follow instructions well (basic knowledge from fooling around with things myself). I could use my Toshiba recovery disk, but that would format my laptop and I have not been able to do a backup in a few weeks, as a family of spiders decided to make their home in my external HD and it had to be repaired and formatted! And I need everything on it, as we use the laptop as our hotel reception computer and it has EVERYTHING on it. Really worried and hoping you can help! Thank you! Lauren