Hang during boot

[bonestonne]

Okay, I'm sure this thread has been brought up before, but I'm going to go nuts over this thing soon.

Situation in a nutshell:

Dell Dimension 2350, full of viruses over a long period of time, finally the user decided to do something about it.

Between Microsoft Security Essentials and Malware Bytes, I've gotten the computer virus free.

Step two is getting it all back together. Put the box together, press the power button, goes through POST, then it hangs.

I do not see the Windows XP loading screen, just a white bar at the bottom of the screen.

If I try to boot into Safe Mode, it hangs after loading MUP.sys

I've reset the BIOS, I've swapped out the PATA cable, I've swapped the RAM, I've cloned the drive, I've ran Check Disk, I've ran FixBoot, I've ran BootCfg, I've tried a repair install, and at this point, I've just left the computer on at that white bar to see if it can sort it out by itself.

The data is all intact, I can go through the data on another computer, but beyond that, I just can't get the thing to boot into Windows.

Short of reinstalling everything, is there anything I can do? Simply put, the computer is owned by a pretty old fellow, and in all honesty, I'm not sure I'll be able to set it up how he had it again, because of the Dial Up connection, among other software that I'm not sure he has anywhere else.

Even an ugly fix would work for me, but this is going to kill me. The computer has definitely seen better days, but the longer the problem persists, the more I feel like it's a bigger hardware issue than software.

Any and all help is much appreciated!

-bonestonne

[lotharuk]

The main reasons for this Windows XP or Win 2000 boot hang or alleged mup.sys issue are:

* Hard disk failure or corruption

* A corrupted registry or registry hive

* New hardware has been installed but not did not completely "Register or re-Register" correctly

* New hardware has been installed but it is faulty or failing

* The new hardware's driver or windows itself has been compromised (Disk data corruption or by a virus) or (rare) needs to be updated

* The power supply is marginal in output or failing (Common per user feedback)

* BIOS\ESCD\Motherboard chipset driver conflict with a component, its driver, or its registry data

* Existing hardware including the motherboard may have failed in a specific way but not catastrophically.

[bonestonne]

From what I've read, the issue isn't actually MUP.sys, that's why I didn't want to title the thread with that. The issue supposedly lies within whatever loads next.

I don't want to shoot anything down, I want to try and narrow the possibilities, so here's my next step of thoughts:

1) Can't be the hard drive, two drives give the same result. I doubt two different drives would be corrupt at the same time because of this

2) No new hardware other than swapping out the hard drive, but the original drive gives the same issue.

3) It could be a corrupt registry hive, how could I fix this (or is this not fixable)?

4) No drivers have changed, although it's possible they're corrupt. Again, I've run CheckDisk a million times, is there a chance that missed it?

5) I'll grab a new power supply right now and try that out, and get back later with a result.

6) I'm tempted to say it's a motherboard issue, but I don't have any similar computers that will boot the drive. I've had Dells with close enough hardware be able to boot other drives in the past, but this one gives the same issue. I still have trouble saying it's the OS though (but I could be wrong on that).

Off to try a new PSU, will be back soon, hopefully after some others chime in on possibilities.

[lotharuk]

If the PSU is not the problem, to eliminate the possibility of hardware issues I'd do a fresh install with that spare drive you mention, time consuming as it is, it would certainly narrow things down.

all the best.

[bonestonne]

PSU didnt do it.

Another RAM swap didn't do it.

I was able to do a fresh install, but I haven't put on any drivers, simply because I have other computers on the bench.

I can't get in with Safe Mode, can't get in with a normal boot. I'm literally stuck.

I'm leaning towards a fresh install and migrating the data. It's all there, but I'm guessing it had some nasty virus (Malware Bytes had over 100 infections, and I was in a rush, so I didn't look too closely at the time, but I can pull the log out later and look again).

Reason #2345 for not storing everything solely on your main computer?

Edited October 23, 2010 by bonestonne

[Ponch]

I've tried a repair install

What was the result/error then ?

[bonestonne]

After doing a Repair install, there was no change in behavior from the system. I did a repair install at least twice, with absolutely no change whatsoever.

I've run out of ideas, which is why I came here for some second/third/fourth opinions.

[bonestonne]

If I can't save the install, can anyone tell me if I'll be able to migrate most of the data to a new install?

I've never used the Windows Data Migration software in Windows XP, so I don't want to necessarily go that route and get screwed over.

I'm not going into work today to mess with it, but I will tomorrow, so any help would be great right now.

[Tripredacus]

In the F8 menu, see if you have a Step-By-Step configuration. Not all systems have them. But if yours does, you can see what it tries to load after MUP.SYS because it will ask you to confirm loading it.

[bonestonne]

No Step by Step configuration option. I'm about to configure a new install and see if I can migrate most of the data over, but I'm torn. Not sure if it's a huge hardware issue, or if it's a boot sector virus that removed blocks of the boot sector when removed. I can't seem to find a log of it to confirm.

Computer is seriously going to kill me. I have a pretty brutal cold, midterms starting tomorrow, and this **** computer on the side. I'll have to kick this comp back, but it's not looking hopeful.

[jaclaz]

No Step by Step configuration option. I'm about to configure a new install and see if I can migrate most of the data over, but I'm torn. Not sure if it's a huge hardware issue, or if it's a boot sector virus that removed blocks of the boot sector when removed. I can't seem to find a log of it to confirm.

If it's a bootsector virus of some kind you wouldn't get as far as the MUP.SYS.

Anyway nothing prevents you from booting from another device (CD, USB stick, etc.) grub4dos or Syslinux/Isolinux and chainload the loader (or use a "real" or "mapped to memory" floppy image with NTLDR+BOOT.INI+NTDETECT.COM).

Before doing anything else, I would rather try "virtualizing" a copy of the install in a VM, like Qemu, using something like OfflineSysprep to uninstall "standard" drivers and HAL.

jaclaz

Edited October 26, 2010 by jaclaz

[bonestonne]

After a tweak to the boot.ini, I got an error about hal.dll, but even after replacing it from the install CD, I saw no change, and after a reboot, got the same error about hal.dll.

Giving it time, but not feeling very confident at this point, because there don't seem to be many pages that document similar problems with fixes.

[Tripredacus]

Fixing a hal.dll error on XP can be complicated. I ran into this once with my old system (because I replaced the motherboard) and got down to just doing a repair install to fix it. Fortunately, a repair install of XP should keep all of your previous settings.