Stand alone recovery console?

[Guest]

I'm trying to a help a friend who has bought a second hand DELL computer for
the kids and has run into problems - specifically the mup.sys hang problem.
As the computer is second hand and the parents are a trifle computer naive
they didn't get the recovery disks with it. Right ... !

I've reviewed endless websites about the mup.sys hang (not apparently
attributable to mup.sys - just named for the last file listed before it
hangs) and virtually all solutions say something like ..."Start the recovery
console from your Windows XP install disk ...".

I don't have a Windows XP install disk for their system. First it's an OEM
system like 99.99% of all domestic systems, and second they don't have any
recovery disk. In any case it seems that if you did have an install disk and
then did an upgrade to SP2, the recovery console from the original disk might
not be much help!

The one thing I DO have is the Win XP Pro product key - its glued to the
side of the box.

I was hoping that MS would have some stand-alone tools that can be used in
these situations - basically a recovery console CD with the ability to
interrogate and edit the registry and other system start-up and set-up files.

I've been nosing around the MS website for a couple of days in search of
such tools without finding anything. Can anyone point me in the right
direction please?

Thanks in advance

Al

 

[bud]

I'm trying to a help a friend who has bought a second hand DELL computer
for
the kids and has run into problems - specifically the mup.sys hang
problem.
As the computer is second hand and the parents are a trifle computer naive
they didn't get the recovery disks with it. Right ... !

I've reviewed endless websites about the mup.sys hang (not apparently
attributable to mup.sys - just named for the last file listed before it
hangs) and virtually all solutions say something like ..."Start the
recovery
console from your Windows XP install disk ...".

I don't have a Windows XP install disk for their system. First it's an
OEM
system like 99.99% of all domestic systems, and second they don't have any
recovery disk. In any case it seems that if you did have an install disk
and
then did an upgrade to SP2, the recovery console from the original disk
might
not be much help!

The one thing I DO have is the Win XP Pro product key - its glued to the
side of the box.

I was hoping that MS would have some stand-alone tools that can be used in
these situations - basically a recovery console CD with the ability to
interrogate and edit the registry and other system start-up and set-up
files.

I've been nosing around the MS website for a couple of days in search of
such tools without finding anything. Can anyone point me in the right
direction please?

Thanks in advance

Al

This file is an ISO that can be burned to a cd to give you a bootable
Recovery Console.
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/Tools/bootdiscs/xp_rec_con.zip

 

[Guest]

Thanks Bud,

I'll give that a go.

I just downloaded it and WinZip reports the file as corrupt. HOWEVER, a
quick inspection with a binary file editor revealed that the first 1Kb was
all zeroes and then the proper Zip format started. So I've stripped out that
first 1Kand now it opens neat as you like.

Thanks again,

Al

 

[Guest]

Hi Bud,

Handy dandy file that! I'm in to the recovery console now and heading round
the obvious diagnostics like chkdisk. Burning the ISO to a CD required Alex
Feinman's ISO Recorder available at
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

From then on it was a breeze to get Recovery Console running on the moribund
PC. Where I go from there ... well that's still territory to explore for the
mup.sys problem and depends on what I find on the PC disk. But at least I'm
over a big hurdle thanks to you.

Thanks a zillion.

Al

 

[bud]

Hi Bud,

Handy dandy file that! I'm in to the recovery console now and heading
round
the obvious diagnostics like chkdisk. Burning the ISO to a CD required
Alex
Feinman's ISO Recorder available at
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

From then on it was a breeze to get Recovery Console running on the
moribund
PC. Where I go from there ... well that's still territory to explore for
the
mup.sys problem and depends on what I find on the PC disk. But at least
I'm
over a big hurdle thanks to you.

Thanks a zillion.

Al

You sound like you know what you're doing but here is a site that might have
something you could use.
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm