Ailing Computer

G

garyr

My computer is about 5 years old and is beginning to have problems -
freezing up and rebooting, , I think, but not certain, that this always
happens with I'm using IE (Ver 8). The OS is XP with SP3 and all updates
installed. I've kept my anti-virus software (Norton) up to date.

I cannot start up in Safe Mode. After reaching the screen that allows the
startup mode to be selected, I select Safe Mode and it starts loading
programs then stops and then after a while returns to that screen. Does this
imply that the disk is corrupted and that I should reformat C and reinstall
XP? That is a very painful process for me as I have a dialup internet
connection and downloading all the SP's and updates required takes a very
long time. Aside from the current problems I'm experiencing this computer is
sufficient for my needs but I wonder if I might not be better off just
buying an new one. What do you think?
 
B

Buffalo

garyr said:
My computer is about 5 years old and is beginning to have problems -
freezing up and rebooting, , I think, but not certain, that this
always happens with I'm using IE (Ver 8). The OS is XP with SP3 and
all updates installed. I've kept my anti-virus software (Norton) up
to date.

I cannot start up in Safe Mode. After reaching the screen that allows
the startup mode to be selected, I select Safe Mode and it starts
loading programs then stops and then after a while returns to that
screen. Does this imply that the disk is corrupted and that I should
reformat C and reinstall XP? That is a very painful process for me as
I have a dialup internet connection and downloading all the SP's and
updates required takes a very long time. Aside from the current
problems I'm experiencing this computer is sufficient for my needs
but I wonder if I might not be better off just buying an new one.
What do you think?

So, you can start in Normal Mode but you cannot start in Safe Mode? Is that
correct?
Buffalo
PS: If you get any error messages, please post then as exact as you can.
PPS: Perhaps your PC is just overheating (cpu) due to dust bunnies, etc??
Not enough info for others to help. How long will it run (timewise), if you
don't use IE?
 
J

Jose

My computer is about 5 years old and is beginning to have problems -
freezing up and rebooting, , I think, but not certain, that this always
happens with I'm using IE (Ver 8). The OS is XP with SP3 and all updates
installed. I've kept my anti-virus software (Norton) up to date.

I cannot start up in Safe Mode. After reaching the screen that allows the
startup mode to be selected, I select Safe Mode and it starts loading
programs then stops and then after a while returns to that screen. Does this
imply that the disk is corrupted and that I should reformat C and reinstall
XP? That is a very painful process for me as I have a dialup internet
connection and downloading all the SP's and updates required takes a very
long time. Aside from the current problems I'm experiencing this computeris
sufficient for my needs but I wonder if I might not be better off just
buying an new one. What do you think?

Reinstalling XP to solve problems is for girls. Identify and fix the
problems instead.

Here is how to troubleshoot your system effectively and resolve your
issue with certainty:

We need more general information and then some of the crash
information. Lock ups I will deal with later if it is still a problem
after the crashing problem is resolved.

Have any hardware oriented changes been made to the system since it
worked? RAM, video card, storage (hard disks, USB devices), printers,
network hardware drivers, device drivers?

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to be only your business that you can delete
from the paste.


Disable Automatic restart on system error to stop the error on your
screen so you can see it:

Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery
Settings.

In the System failure section, untick the Automatically restart box,
OK, OK.

If you can only boot in Safe Mode and are seeing a BSOD, choose the
option:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

Then you can see the BSOD when it happens again and will have some
crash dump files with the information you need to fix your problem.

If your system is so afflicted that o crash dump files are generated,
do this:

Here are some BSOD blue screen of death examples showing information
you need to provide:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/Windows_XP_BSOD.png
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/images/bsod_a.jpg

Send the information pointed to with the red arrows (3-4 lines
total). Skip the boring text unless it looks important to you. We
know what a BSOD looks like, we need to know the other information
that is specific to your BSOD.

Download BlueScreenView from here and let's see your last few crash
dumps:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Unzip and run it and let it finish scanning all your dump files (BSV
does not install anything). Select the most recent dump files by
clicking them and holding down the Ctrl key to select multiples files.
Try to select just the most recent ones that relate to your issue.

Click File, Save Selected Items and save the information from the
dumps to a text file on your desktop called BSOD.txt. Open BSOD.txt
with a text editor, copy all the text and paste it into your next
reply.


It is nice that you have Norton and it is up to date, but Norton does
not know everything, so I suggest you do this while we look at your
other information:

Reduce the chances of malicious software by running some scans.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

I suggest that only after your system is stable and clean should you
address your performance issues - then we'll fix that too and do the
best we can (Norton generally has a negative impact of performance,
but we'll see later).
 
G

garyr

Buffalo,
Whenever I attempt to start in safe mode a bunch of files are loaded, the
last one being ...\Drivers\Mpu.sys. Then after a short delay the blue screen
of death appears. I think the info of interest is:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
and
STOP: 0X0000000A (0XF7A70345, 0X000000FF, 0X00000001, 0X804E2E51)

This is repeatable and occurred following selection of Safe mode, Safe mode
with networking and Safe mode with command prompt. It starts in normal mode
just fine.

I took the cover off the computer, there was some dust inside but not much
on any of the vents or the fan.

Gary
 
G

garyr

Jose,
I'll try not to be girlish in my attempts to fix this problem.

The system info and BSOD data are below. There have been no hardware changes
of any kind in several years.
I've disabled Automatic Restart. I downloaded Malwarebytes
and SUPERAntiSpyware and the latest updates for both. Complete system scans
only turned up a few tracking cookies. I'll post info from the next blue
screen of death that occurs.

Many thanks for your help,
Gary

PS
Attempting to start in safe mode always produces the BSOD. Some info in my
reply to Buffalo's post.

---------------------------------
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name GARYR-ZMNIA5KFU
System Manufacturer ATI___
System Model AWRDACPI
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1 GenuineIntel ~2533 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award BIOS for Intel GC11010N.86A.0312.2006.0609.1700,
6/9/2006
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 133.70 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.03 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
------------------------------------------------

==================================================
Dump File : Mini052810-01.dmp
Crash Time : 5/28/2010 3:51:01 PM
Bug Check String : KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Bug Check Code : 0x1000008e
Parameter 1 : 0xc0000005
Parameter 2 : 0xbf8d5ff7
Parameter 3 : 0xb8223fbc
Parameter 4 : 0x00000000
Caused By Driver : win32k.sys
Caused By Address : win32k.sys+d5ff7
File Description : Multi-User Win32 Driver
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5863 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.090814-1258)
Processor : 32-bit
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini052810-01.dmp
Processors Count : 1
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 2600
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini052710-01.dmp
Crash Time : 5/27/2010 6:03:38 AM
Bug Check String : KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Bug Check Code : 0x1000008e
Parameter 1 : 0xc0000005
Parameter 2 : 0x80544a9d
Parameter 3 : 0xf51a4b7c
Parameter 4 : 0x00000000
Caused By Driver : ntoskrnl.exe
Caused By Address : ntoskrnl.exe+6da9d
File Description : NT Kernel & System
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5938 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
Processor : 32-bit
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini052710-01.dmp
Processors Count : 1
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 2600
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini052210-01.dmp
Crash Time : 5/22/2010 6:52:40 PM
Bug Check String : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code : 0x1000000a
Parameter 1 : 0xa957fc86
Parameter 2 : 0x00000002
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0x8051d2e9
Caused By Driver :
Caused By Address :
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : 32-bit
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini052210-01.dmp
Processors Count : 1
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 2600
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini051210-01.dmp
Crash Time : 5/12/2010 11:01:54 AM
Bug Check String : SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Bug Check Code : 0x1000007e
Parameter 1 : 0xc0000005
Parameter 2 : 0x804e1abb
Parameter 3 : 0xf7a57c24
Parameter 4 : 0xf7a57920
Caused By Driver : ntoskrnl.exe
Caused By Address : ntoskrnl.exe+aabb
File Description : NT Kernel & System
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5938 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
Processor : 32-bit
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini051210-01.dmp
Processors Count : 1
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 2600
==================================================

My computer is about 5 years old and is beginning to have problems -
freezing up and rebooting, , I think, but not certain, that this always
happens with I'm using IE (Ver 8). The OS is XP with SP3 and all updates
installed. I've kept my anti-virus software (Norton) up to date.

I cannot start up in Safe Mode. After reaching the screen that allows the
startup mode to be selected, I select Safe Mode and it starts loading
programs then stops and then after a while returns to that screen. Does
this
imply that the disk is corrupted and that I should reformat C and
reinstall
XP? That is a very painful process for me as I have a dialup internet
connection and downloading all the SP's and updates required takes a very
long time. Aside from the current problems I'm experiencing this computer
is
sufficient for my needs but I wonder if I might not be better off just
buying an new one. What do you think?

Reinstalling XP to solve problems is for girls. Identify and fix the
problems instead.

Here is how to troubleshoot your system effectively and resolve your
issue with certainty:

We need more general information and then some of the crash
information. Lock ups I will deal with later if it is still a problem
after the crashing problem is resolved.

Have any hardware oriented changes been made to the system since it
worked? RAM, video card, storage (hard disks, USB devices), printers,
network hardware drivers, device drivers?

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to be only your business that you can delete
from the paste.


Disable Automatic restart on system error to stop the error on your
screen so you can see it:

Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery
Settings.

In the System failure section, untick the Automatically restart box,
OK, OK.

If you can only boot in Safe Mode and are seeing a BSOD, choose the
option:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

Then you can see the BSOD when it happens again and will have some
crash dump files with the information you need to fix your problem.

If your system is so afflicted that o crash dump files are generated,
do this:

Here are some BSOD blue screen of death examples showing information
you need to provide:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/Windows_XP_BSOD.png
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/images/bsod_a.jpg

Send the information pointed to with the red arrows (3-4 lines
total). Skip the boring text unless it looks important to you. We
know what a BSOD looks like, we need to know the other information
that is specific to your BSOD.

Download BlueScreenView from here and let's see your last few crash
dumps:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Unzip and run it and let it finish scanning all your dump files (BSV
does not install anything). Select the most recent dump files by
clicking them and holding down the Ctrl key to select multiples files.
Try to select just the most recent ones that relate to your issue.

Click File, Save Selected Items and save the information from the
dumps to a text file on your desktop called BSOD.txt. Open BSOD.txt
with a text editor, copy all the text and paste it into your next
reply.


It is nice that you have Norton and it is up to date, but Norton does
not know everything, so I suggest you do this while we look at your
other information:

Reduce the chances of malicious software by running some scans.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

I suggest that only after your system is stable and clean should you
address your performance issues - then we'll fix that too and do the
best we can (Norton generally has a negative impact of performance,
but we'll see later).
 
N

nurmi

May be my experience with Explorer 8 is reason for the experts to discuss?
I drive WinXP SP3 Explorer 7 and decided to up-date to 8. From the moment
it was installed, I had numerous problems.
Nothing seemed to work, until I saw a note somewhere that Explorer 8 is
designed for Win 7. After changing back to IE 7 I had peace.
Nurmi
 
J

Jose

Buffalo,
Whenever I attempt to start in safe mode a bunch of files are loaded, the
last one being ...\Drivers\Mpu.sys. Then after a short delay the blue screen
of death appears. I think the info of interest is:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
and
STOP: 0X0000000A (0XF7A70345, 0X000000FF, 0X00000001, 0X804E2E51)

This is repeatable and occurred following selection of Safe mode, Safe mode
with networking and Safe mode with command prompt. It starts in normal mode
just fine.

I took the cover off the computer, there was some dust inside but not much
on any of the vents or the fan.

Gary

You mean mup.sys of course (I hope).

I know - all the girls seem to work at HP, Dell, Compaq Support -
reinstall, reinstall, reinstall XP!!!

I see your BSOD info and will look at it some more in a bit. Are you
pressing F8 to get into Safe Mode, right (not via msconfig). This
problem is familiar though...

In the mean time, please read this yakking I am working on for a post
up about mup.sys "issues" and see if this stimulates your thought
processes regarding the crash at (or after) mup.sys. Especially try
Safe Mode with only a keyboard attached (that is all you need for Safe
Mode).

Sometimes your system will not boot and you may use the F8 boot
options menu to boot Safe Mode. Sometimes the last thing
you see on the screen when your system hangs is loading mup.sys.

There is probably nothing wrong with mup.sys but since that is the
last thing on the screen it becomes the target for
replacement. Replacing mup.sys is sometimes an involved process and
will unlikely resolve the issue even if you could
replace it.

I would not waste time, energy or effort on trying to replace mup.sys
since I have never seen it to be the real problem
in spite of what you see on the screen. It is always the next thing
to load that is the real problem.

There is certainly no need to reinstall XP or even do a Repair Install
to resolve what is usually a very simple problem.

The real problem is hardly ever going to be mup.sys - as a matter of
fact, I have never seen a problem with the actual mup.sys
file. The problem is what tries to load after mup.sys. and you can't
tell that (easily) since it is not displayed on the screen.

Experience and lots of testing says that the keyboard and mouse driver
i8042prt.sys (i8042prt.sys file is the KB and mouse
driver) is usually the next thing to load on most systems - right
after mup.sys, so you should suspect a problem in the are of
keyboard and mouse. Especially if they are USB devices.

If your system restarts continuously,choose from the F8 boot options
menu:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

This will display the error message that you can't see when the system
restarts itself. That is what Windows is supposed
to do when it has a failure - it is supposed to restart
automatically. The error you see on the screen has your answer.

You can also choose from the F8 boot options menu:

Last Known Good Configuration

Last Known Good Configuration is the configuration XP saved the last
time Windows booted successfully and choosing that option
may allow you to boot long enough to undo (roll back) whatever got
your system afflicted in the first place.

If the system boots with Lat Known Good Configuration, uninstall (roll
back) the afflicted driver update and get the correct
drivers for your system.

Sometimes when booting in Safe Mode the system will take a long time
to get past mup.sys so wait a generous amount of
minutes and see if the boot process will continue. Once booted
uninstall (roll back) any recent driver updates and continue
troubleshooting any remaining issues.

What do you think the problem is or what do you think might have
changed since the last successful boot?

Disconnect all the peripherals except the keyboard starting with USB
devices. You are trying to eliminate the device that
is causing your system not to boot. You only need a keyboard to boot
in Safe Mode, so if the system boots with nothing else
attached roll back any driver updates and/or start reconnecting
peripherals one at a time and rebooting after each one until
the system hangs again. The last thing that was connected is your
culprit (or the driver that goes with it).

If you are using a USB keyboard, that may be part of the problem so
use a PS/2 keyboard if one is handy.

Have you added a new mouse or any wireless keyboard and mouse since
the last good boot? Unhook everything that is connected
and try booting again.

Have any new external USB drives been added lately? Disconnect them
temporarily to see if your system will boot without
them connected.

I usually see the problem as a USB mouse or keyboard change/update of
some kind. Either physical hardware or some recent
update that has occurred since the last good boot.

Have you performed any Windows updates since the last successful
boot? Microsoft Windows Update will sometimes include
what it thinks are updates to some of your device drivers and
sometimes they just do not work.

There is sometimes no crash dump file created or clues in the Event
Log under these conditions since Windows did not get
far enough along in the boot process or sometimes there is no
indication on the BSOD what the afflicted driver is. Advice
to "look at" these things on a system that will not boot is difficult
to comprehend.

If you still need help, describe your currently attached peripherals
and decide in any new keyboard, mouse, video or
network hardware or drivers were installed since the last time the
system booted properly. If yes, you need to boot
somehow to uninstall (roll back) the drivers to the last set that
worked properly (but first your system needs to boot).
 
Y

Yousuf Khan

garyr said:
Buffalo,
Whenever I attempt to start in safe mode a bunch of files are loaded, the
last one being ...\Drivers\Mpu.sys. Then after a short delay the blue screen
of death appears. I think the info of interest is:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
and
STOP: 0X0000000A (0XF7A70345, 0X000000FF, 0X00000001, 0X804E2E51)

This is repeatable and occurred following selection of Safe mode, Safe mode
with networking and Safe mode with command prompt. It starts in normal mode
just fine.

I took the cover off the computer, there was some dust inside but not much
on any of the vents or the fan.

Gary


The IRQL... message indicates that there is a conflict between two or
more pieces of hardware trying to share the same IRQ number. Although,
it's supposed to be okay to share IRQ's in relatively modern PCs based
on the Plug'n'Play & ACPI standards, in reality Windows XP has an
absolutely braindead way of assigning them out and overloading them.
Windows 7 & Linux assigns them much better. In XP, I had two different
IRQ's each assigned to over 10 pieces of hardware by themselves. In
Windows 7, you won't see more than two assigned to the same IRQ, and
usually only one will be assigned. There's no way to fix it in XP
either, if your PC is ACPI-compliant then XP will not let you change any
IRQ's manually, you can only upgrade to Vista or 7.

Yousuf Khan
 
J

John John - MVP

Yousuf said:
The IRQL... message indicates that there is a conflict between two or
more pieces of hardware trying to share the same IRQ number. Although,
it's supposed to be okay to share IRQ's in relatively modern PCs based
on the Plug'n'Play & ACPI standards, in reality Windows XP has an
absolutely braindead way of assigning them out and overloading them.
Windows 7 & Linux assigns them much better. In XP, I had two different
IRQ's each assigned to over 10 pieces of hardware by themselves. In
Windows 7, you won't see more than two assigned to the same IRQ, and
usually only one will be assigned. There's no way to fix it in XP
either, if your PC is ACPI-compliant then XP will not let you change any
IRQ's manually, you can only upgrade to Vista or 7.

Utter nonsense.

John
 
G

garyr

I don't think that is my problem Nurmi. I've been usint IE8 for quite some
time without problems. My current problem has been around a while but has
gotten worse lately.
 
G

garyr

Buffalo,
Whenever I attempt to start in safe mode a bunch of files are loaded, the
last one being ...\Drivers\Mpu.sys. Then after a short delay the blue
screen
of death appears. I think the info of interest is:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
and
STOP: 0X0000000A (0XF7A70345, 0X000000FF, 0X00000001, 0X804E2E51)

This is repeatable and occurred following selection of Safe mode, Safe
mode
with networking and Safe mode with command prompt. It starts in normal
mode
just fine.

I took the cover off the computer, there was some dust inside but not much
on any of the vents or the fan.

Gary

You mean mup.sys of course (I hope).

I know - all the girls seem to work at HP, Dell, Compaq Support -
reinstall, reinstall, reinstall XP!!!

I see your BSOD info and will look at it some more in a bit. Are you
pressing F8 to get into Safe Mode, right (not via msconfig). This
problem is familiar though...

In the mean time, please read this yakking I am working on for a post
up about mup.sys "issues" and see if this stimulates your thought
processes regarding the crash at (or after) mup.sys. Especially try
Safe Mode with only a keyboard attached (that is all you need for Safe
Mode).

Sometimes your system will not boot and you may use the F8 boot
options menu to boot Safe Mode. Sometimes the last thing
you see on the screen when your system hangs is loading mup.sys.

There is probably nothing wrong with mup.sys but since that is the
last thing on the screen it becomes the target for
replacement. Replacing mup.sys is sometimes an involved process and
will unlikely resolve the issue even if you could
replace it.

I would not waste time, energy or effort on trying to replace mup.sys
since I have never seen it to be the real problem
in spite of what you see on the screen. It is always the next thing
to load that is the real problem.

There is certainly no need to reinstall XP or even do a Repair Install
to resolve what is usually a very simple problem.

The real problem is hardly ever going to be mup.sys - as a matter of
fact, I have never seen a problem with the actual mup.sys
file. The problem is what tries to load after mup.sys. and you can't
tell that (easily) since it is not displayed on the screen.

Experience and lots of testing says that the keyboard and mouse driver
i8042prt.sys (i8042prt.sys file is the KB and mouse
driver) is usually the next thing to load on most systems - right
after mup.sys, so you should suspect a problem in the are of
keyboard and mouse. Especially if they are USB devices.

If your system restarts continuously,choose from the F8 boot options
menu:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

This will display the error message that you can't see when the system
restarts itself. That is what Windows is supposed
to do when it has a failure - it is supposed to restart
automatically. The error you see on the screen has your answer.

You can also choose from the F8 boot options menu:

Last Known Good Configuration

Last Known Good Configuration is the configuration XP saved the last
time Windows booted successfully and choosing that option
may allow you to boot long enough to undo (roll back) whatever got
your system afflicted in the first place.

If the system boots with Lat Known Good Configuration, uninstall (roll
back) the afflicted driver update and get the correct
drivers for your system.

Sometimes when booting in Safe Mode the system will take a long time
to get past mup.sys so wait a generous amount of
minutes and see if the boot process will continue. Once booted
uninstall (roll back) any recent driver updates and continue
troubleshooting any remaining issues.

What do you think the problem is or what do you think might have
changed since the last successful boot?

Disconnect all the peripherals except the keyboard starting with USB
devices. You are trying to eliminate the device that
is causing your system not to boot. You only need a keyboard to boot
in Safe Mode, so if the system boots with nothing else
attached roll back any driver updates and/or start reconnecting
peripherals one at a time and rebooting after each one until
the system hangs again. The last thing that was connected is your
culprit (or the driver that goes with it).

If you are using a USB keyboard, that may be part of the problem so
use a PS/2 keyboard if one is handy.

Have you added a new mouse or any wireless keyboard and mouse since
the last good boot? Unhook everything that is connected
and try booting again.

Have any new external USB drives been added lately? Disconnect them
temporarily to see if your system will boot without
them connected.

I usually see the problem as a USB mouse or keyboard change/update of
some kind. Either physical hardware or some recent
update that has occurred since the last good boot.

Have you performed any Windows updates since the last successful
boot? Microsoft Windows Update will sometimes include
what it thinks are updates to some of your device drivers and
sometimes they just do not work.

There is sometimes no crash dump file created or clues in the Event
Log under these conditions since Windows did not get
far enough along in the boot process or sometimes there is no
indication on the BSOD what the afflicted driver is. Advice
to "look at" these things on a system that will not boot is difficult
to comprehend.

If you still need help, describe your currently attached peripherals
and decide in any new keyboard, mouse, video or
network hardware or drivers were installed since the last time the
system booted properly. If yes, you need to boot
somehow to uninstall (roll back) the drivers to the last set that
worked properly (but first your system needs to boot).

*********************************************

Jose,

Yes, the last file loaded is Mup.sys.
I unpluged everything except the keyboard but I get the same BSOD when I try
to start in safe mode.
 
U

Unknown

You apparently do not understand the interrupt concept else why did you post
that misinformation?
 
Y

Yousuf Khan

Unknown said:
You apparently do not understand the interrupt concept else why did you post
that misinformation?


Then what's your interpretation?

Yousuf Khan
 
J

John John - MVP

Yousuf said:
And how would you interpret it then?

Error Message:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Explanation:

This Stop message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver
attempted to access a memory address to which it did not have permission
to access. The most common cause of this error is an incorrect or
corrupted pointer that references an incorrect location in memory. A
pointer is a variable used by a program to refer to a block of memory.
If the variable has an incorrect value in it, the program tries to
access memory that it should not. When this occurs in a user-mode
application, it generates an access violation. When it occurs in kernel
mode, it generates a STOP 0x0000000A message.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms854226.aspx

John
 
U

Unknown

Your comment ----Windows Xp has a brain-dead way of assigning them and
overloading them.
Tell us how you would assign them.
 
J

Jose

You mean mup.sys of course (I hope).

I know - all the girls seem to work at HP, Dell, Compaq Support -
reinstall, reinstall, reinstall XP!!!

I see your BSOD info and will look at it some more in a bit.  Are you
pressing F8 to get into Safe Mode, right (not via msconfig).  This
problem is familiar though...

In the mean time, please read this yakking I am working on for a post
up about mup.sys "issues" and see if this stimulates your thought
processes regarding the crash at (or after) mup.sys.   Especially try
Safe Mode with only a keyboard attached (that is all you need for Safe
Mode).

Sometimes your system will not boot and you may use the F8 boot
options menu to boot Safe Mode.  Sometimes the last thing
you see on the screen when your system hangs is loading mup.sys.

There is probably nothing wrong with mup.sys but since that is the
last thing on the screen it becomes the target for
replacement.  Replacing mup.sys is sometimes an involved process and
will unlikely resolve the issue even if you could
replace it.

I would not waste time, energy or effort on trying to replace mup.sys
since I have never seen it to be the real problem
in spite of what you see on the screen.  It is always the next thing
to load that is the real problem.

There is certainly no need to reinstall XP or even do a Repair Install
to resolve what is usually a very simple problem.

The real problem is hardly ever going to be mup.sys - as a matter of
fact, I have never seen a problem with the actual mup.sys
file.  The problem is what tries to load after mup.sys. and you can't
tell that (easily) since it is not displayed on the screen.

Experience and lots of testing says that the keyboard and mouse driver
i8042prt.sys (i8042prt.sys file is the KB and mouse
driver) is usually the next thing to load on most systems - right
after mup.sys, so you should suspect a problem in the are of
keyboard and mouse.  Especially if they are USB devices.

If your system restarts continuously,choose from the F8 boot options
menu:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

This will display the error message that you can't see when the system
restarts itself.  That is what Windows is supposed
to do when it has a failure - it is supposed to restart
automatically.  The error you see on the screen has your answer.

You can also choose from the F8 boot options menu:

Last Known Good Configuration

Last Known Good Configuration is the configuration XP saved the last
time Windows booted successfully and choosing that option
may allow you to boot long enough to undo (roll back) whatever got
your system afflicted in the first place.

If the system boots with Lat Known Good Configuration, uninstall (roll
back) the afflicted driver update and get the correct
drivers for your system.

Sometimes when booting in Safe Mode the system will take a long time
to get past mup.sys so wait a generous amount of
minutes and see if the boot process will continue.  Once booted
uninstall (roll back) any recent driver updates and continue
troubleshooting any remaining issues.

What do you think the problem is or what do you think might have
changed since the last successful boot?

Disconnect all the peripherals except the keyboard starting with USB
devices.  You are trying to eliminate the device that
is causing your system not to boot.  You only need a keyboard to boot
in Safe Mode, so if the system boots with nothing else
attached roll back any driver updates and/or start reconnecting
peripherals one at a time and rebooting after each one until
the system hangs again.  The last thing that was connected is your
culprit (or the driver that goes with it).

If you are using a USB keyboard, that may be part of the problem so
use a PS/2 keyboard if one is handy.

Have you added a new mouse or any wireless keyboard and mouse since
the last good boot?  Unhook everything that is connected
and try booting again.

Have any new external USB drives been added lately?  Disconnect them
temporarily to see if your system will boot without
them connected.

I usually see the problem as a USB mouse or keyboard change/update of
some kind.  Either physical hardware or some recent
update that has occurred since the last good boot.

Have you performed any Windows updates since the last successful
boot?  Microsoft Windows Update will sometimes include
what it thinks are updates to some of your device drivers and
sometimes they just do not work.

There is sometimes no crash dump file created or clues in the Event
Log under these conditions since Windows did not get
far enough along in the boot process or sometimes there is no
indication on the BSOD what the afflicted driver is.  Advice
to "look at" these things on a system that will not boot is difficult
to comprehend.

If you still need help, describe your currently attached peripherals
and decide in any new keyboard, mouse, video or
network hardware or drivers were installed since the last time the
system booted properly.  If yes, you need to boot
somehow to uninstall (roll back) the drivers to the last set that
worked properly (but first your system needs to boot).

*********************************************

Jose,

Yes, the last file loaded is Mup.sys.
I unpluged everything except the keyboard but I get the same BSOD when I try
to start in safe mode.

What about LKGK, how are you invoking Safe Mode, etc., etc., etc.
 
G

garyr

You mean mup.sys of course (I hope).

I know - all the girls seem to work at HP, Dell, Compaq Support -
reinstall, reinstall, reinstall XP!!!

I see your BSOD info and will look at it some more in a bit. Are you
pressing F8 to get into Safe Mode, right (not via msconfig). This
problem is familiar though...

In the mean time, please read this yakking I am working on for a post
up about mup.sys "issues" and see if this stimulates your thought
processes regarding the crash at (or after) mup.sys. Especially try
Safe Mode with only a keyboard attached (that is all you need for Safe
Mode).

Sometimes your system will not boot and you may use the F8 boot
options menu to boot Safe Mode. Sometimes the last thing
you see on the screen when your system hangs is loading mup.sys.

There is probably nothing wrong with mup.sys but since that is the
last thing on the screen it becomes the target for
replacement. Replacing mup.sys is sometimes an involved process and
will unlikely resolve the issue even if you could
replace it.

I would not waste time, energy or effort on trying to replace mup.sys
since I have never seen it to be the real problem
in spite of what you see on the screen. It is always the next thing
to load that is the real problem.

There is certainly no need to reinstall XP or even do a Repair Install
to resolve what is usually a very simple problem.

The real problem is hardly ever going to be mup.sys - as a matter of
fact, I have never seen a problem with the actual mup.sys
file. The problem is what tries to load after mup.sys. and you can't
tell that (easily) since it is not displayed on the screen.

Experience and lots of testing says that the keyboard and mouse driver
i8042prt.sys (i8042prt.sys file is the KB and mouse
driver) is usually the next thing to load on most systems - right
after mup.sys, so you should suspect a problem in the are of
keyboard and mouse. Especially if they are USB devices.

If your system restarts continuously,choose from the F8 boot options
menu:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

This will display the error message that you can't see when the system
restarts itself. That is what Windows is supposed
to do when it has a failure - it is supposed to restart
automatically. The error you see on the screen has your answer.

You can also choose from the F8 boot options menu:

Last Known Good Configuration

Last Known Good Configuration is the configuration XP saved the last
time Windows booted successfully and choosing that option
may allow you to boot long enough to undo (roll back) whatever got
your system afflicted in the first place.

If the system boots with Lat Known Good Configuration, uninstall (roll
back) the afflicted driver update and get the correct
drivers for your system.

Sometimes when booting in Safe Mode the system will take a long time
to get past mup.sys so wait a generous amount of
minutes and see if the boot process will continue. Once booted
uninstall (roll back) any recent driver updates and continue
troubleshooting any remaining issues.

What do you think the problem is or what do you think might have
changed since the last successful boot?

Disconnect all the peripherals except the keyboard starting with USB
devices. You are trying to eliminate the device that
is causing your system not to boot. You only need a keyboard to boot
in Safe Mode, so if the system boots with nothing else
attached roll back any driver updates and/or start reconnecting
peripherals one at a time and rebooting after each one until
the system hangs again. The last thing that was connected is your
culprit (or the driver that goes with it).

If you are using a USB keyboard, that may be part of the problem so
use a PS/2 keyboard if one is handy.

Have you added a new mouse or any wireless keyboard and mouse since
the last good boot? Unhook everything that is connected
and try booting again.

Have any new external USB drives been added lately? Disconnect them
temporarily to see if your system will boot without
them connected.

I usually see the problem as a USB mouse or keyboard change/update of
some kind. Either physical hardware or some recent
update that has occurred since the last good boot.

Have you performed any Windows updates since the last successful
boot? Microsoft Windows Update will sometimes include
what it thinks are updates to some of your device drivers and
sometimes they just do not work.

There is sometimes no crash dump file created or clues in the Event
Log under these conditions since Windows did not get
far enough along in the boot process or sometimes there is no
indication on the BSOD what the afflicted driver is. Advice
to "look at" these things on a system that will not boot is difficult
to comprehend.

If you still need help, describe your currently attached peripherals
and decide in any new keyboard, mouse, video or
network hardware or drivers were installed since the last time the
system booted properly. If yes, you need to boot
somehow to uninstall (roll back) the drivers to the last set that
worked properly (but first your system needs to boot).

*********************************************

Jose,

Yes, the last file loaded is Mup.sys.
I unpluged everything except the keyboard but I get the same BSOD when I
try
to start in safe mode.

What about LKGK, how are you invoking Safe Mode, etc., etc., etc.

I tried invoking Safe Mode following power-up (after disconnecting
everything but the keyboard and display) by pressing F8, etc.

I also (with things disconnected) I did a reset via the Task Manager and
found that when I tried to start in Safe Mode the BSOD did not occur, just a
restart.

What is LKGK?
 
S

SC Tom

garyr said:
What about LKGK, how are you invoking Safe Mode, etc., etc., etc.

I tried invoking Safe Mode following power-up (after disconnecting
everything but the keyboard and display) by pressing F8, etc.

I also (with things disconnected) I did a reset via the Task Manager and
found that when I tried to start in Safe Mode the BSOD did not occur, just
a restart.

What is LKGK?
I think Jose meant LKGC (Last Known Good Configuration). It's one of the
options available from the boot menu.
 

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