[docgoblin]

I have a Windows XP Pro SP3 system that was working fine when all of a sudden it went into a reboot loop when I turned the computer on. It is now stuck in said loop. I tried booting to last known good configuration... No good. I tried to boot into safe mode, also no luck. It just freezes when the Mup.sys line shows up. I tried putting in the Windows XP disk to run chkdsk but it said there were unrecoverable problems. I ran a third party utility (NTFSCHK) which allowed me to run chkdsk thoroughly and it supposedly cleaned up any problems. The same symptoms still existed. The BIOS shows the Western Digital SATA drive, however the drive is not recognized once I try to do any fix utilizing the Windows CD. I even tried to do a windows repair but when it gets to the spot where it shows the drive and partitions it just indicates "unknown disk (there is no disk in this drive)." When I hit F3 to exit I get a BSOD showing:

technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E(0x0000005,0xF7522C0B,0xF710A800,0x00000000)
*** setupdd.sys - address F7522C0B base at F74F9000, DateStamp 3b7d8507


I tried removing all hardware except the hard drive and a brand new memory stick. Still the same result. I replaced the SATA cord and switched the power supply connector. The drive still isn't recognized during boot. The odd thing is that this is a very new WD 80GB drive manufactured August 2009. I replaced the drive last year when the original one crapped out.

The system is actually a Gateway GT5238E with 1GB RAM. When I replaced the hard drive a few months ago I did a clean install with a new XP Pro disk so I didn't install all the original Gateway junk software by doing their recovery procedure. The system is XP SP3 with All current updates installed. No other hardware or software was installed prior to the problem. The system was working fine until a few days ago.

I've always had great success with Western Digital drives so I feel it would be very unlikely that a 6 month old Drive could be shot.

If anyone has any a clue on this one I'd appreciate it. I don't want to reformat again such a short time.

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I tried to boot into safe mode, also no luck. It just freezes when the Mup.sys line shows up.

FWIW, I've seen some systems take over 20 minutes to get beyond the mup.sys. They then continue and boot on up into Safe mode.

Edited by SpywareDr, 21 February 2010 - 06:49 AM.

[SpywareDr]

I tried to boot into safe mode, also no luck. It just freezes when the Mup.sys line shows up.

FWIW, I've seen some systems take over 20 minutes to get beyond the mup.sys. They then continue and boot on up into Safe mode.

Edited by SpywareDr, 21 February 2010 - 06:49 AM.

[docgoblin]

I let the system sit at the frozen Mup.sys line for more than 45 minutes and it still won't boot to Safe mode.

I tried running the Western digital Diagnostic tool and it indicates No Drive Present. As I said before, the BIOS does show the drive. Is it possible that this could be a motherboard issue? I find it hard to believe that a Western Digital hard drive could crap out after only a few months. Could the SATA/RAID drivers have disappeared or been corrupted? If so, how can I replace them? Would flashing the BIOS help? If so, how do I do that? As I said, it's a Gateway GT5238E with an Intel dg965lvg1 MoBo.

[happyrock]

try getting a known good sata data cable...swap with old cable
nojoy
try swapping sata slot on the mobo...

if those do not help we could try TESTDISK

[rshaffer61]

Mup.sys error is one of those errors that is deceiving.
It is not the mup.sys that is causing the error but the driver or file after that. The problem is each system is different as to what that file is.
In 99.9999% of the cases the only way to correct this error is to format and do a fresh install of your xp.

[docgoblin]

In 99.9999% of the cases the only way to correct this error is to format and do a fresh install of your xp.

I tried doing the Windows install. Once it gets to the point of creating or deleting partitions it indicates no drive found.

I also tried swapping out the SATA cable and putting it into a different slot on the mobo. Still no good.

I also tried running ERD Commander. No Windows partition is found there either.

Edited by docgoblin, 21 February 2010 - 11:25 AM.

[rshaffer61]

IS hard drive seen in the bios?

[docgoblin]

IS hard drive seen in the bios?

Hard drive is seen in BIOS. I just disconnected it and connected to another computer with a data transfer cable. All files seem to be intact.

[happyrock]

can you try another hard drive...the one in there now may have died

[happyrock]

first save any data to dvd's or the computer you have it slaved to...
then reinstall the hard drive to the original system

then we can try TESTDISK

first a little general info...
MFT... Describes all files on the volume, including file names, timestamps, stream names, and lists of cluster numbers where data streams reside, indexes, security identifiers, and file attributes like "read only", "compressed", "encrypted", etc.
MFTMirr is a Duplicate of the first vital entries of $MFT, usually 4 entries (4 KB).
TestDisk will use the MFTMirr to rewrite the MFT...
The first sector of NTFS partitions is reserved for the partition boot sector. This contains the information that allows the OS to read the partition. Without it, the partition cannot be accessed.

NTFS keeps a backup copy of the boot sector on the last sector of the partition which can allow recovery programs to restore it. The FAT equivalent of this is also called the boot sector, and resides on the first sector of the partition. The difference is that FAT does not keep a backup copy of this information, making recovery much more difficult...
this is in addition to the other advantage of using NTFS..so you can see you really should use the NTFS instead of FAT

The first file stored on an NTFS partition is the Master File Table(MFT) which is essentially a listing of the names, properties and locations of all the other files in the partition. This is referenced by the operating system to access individual files.

NTFS stores a backup copy of this file. Data restoration software will attempt to access or restore a copy of the MFT in order to access files on the partition.

If the MBR or partition table are damaged, the drive will become unbootable, and may appear to be blank if the partition information has been erased.

TESTDISK will attempt to access and restore a copy of the MFT in order to access files on the partition.

• Please download the Ultimate Boot CD here.
• Please burn the file to a CD using a ISO burner. (If you do not have a ISO burner you can get one Here)
• Please boot to the CD using the disk you just burned.
• Press enter to boot to the disk when prompted.
• Using the up and down arrow keys select File System Tools.
• Select Partition Tools.
• Select TestDisk
• Let it load do not press anything until you get to the screen that says at the top:
  TestDisk 6.6 Data Recovery Utility
• Unless you have more then one hard drive installed take the default option and press enter to proceed.
• Due to you are on a PC select Intel and press enter.
• Select analyze
• The next screen will display the current partition structure. If your System shows anything but No partition is bootable please post back with what it says.
• Click Enter to Proceed.
• The next screen is where TestDisk will analyze your disk.
• After that it will come back with the results. It should show. Under Partition NTFS. With a Star Indicating Primary Bootable.
• Press enter to continue.
• Use the Left and Right arrow keys to select write.
• Type Y and press enter to confirm.
• Remove the disk.
• Restart your computer.

Edited by happyrock, 21 February 2010 - 11:50 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Happyrock

[docgoblin]

I ran Testdisk. It proceeded exactly according to your list above. Unfortunately, after restarting the system still goes into the reboot loop and freezes at the same spot when trying to boot to Safe mode.

[happyrock]

slave the drive to the other computer and try running chkdsk /r again...you would type chkdsk x: /r
where x is the drive letter assigned by windows
after it has been run until it finds NO errors...put the drive back in the bad computer and try booting...
if that doesn't fix the drive I only see a complete full format and reinstall...
maybe someone else has something to try though...

Edited by happyrock, 21 February 2010 - 05:36 PM.

[docgoblin]

I've been resigned to a reformat for a while. The problem is when I run the Windows setup it says no drive is present. I will run another chkdsk on the other computer just to be sure the drive is healthy but I still feel there is something else going on here. Whether it's a SATA driver problem or possibly something between the mobo and the system I can't tell. It just seems to be a healthy drive I'm dealing with.

[MC98]

I am having somewhat similar boot loop issues and missing hard drive when you try to run repair with XP disk. The only thing I have determined so far (after a far amount of trial and error) is that my issue is not related to one hard drive. It happens on two different WinXP SATA drives. I have also determined that changing the BIOS SATA controller mode to IDE allows both systems to boot while AHCI or RAID mode will not. Both of these systems were originally in RAID 1 systems. I tried loading AHCI and RAID drivers by using F6 on XP disk startup but the hard drive is still not found. I don't know if this is a hardware controller issue or something else. At least with IDE mode I can get the system up...

Anyone have any other thoughts?