Uninstalling XP from Dual Boot System (Both XP) & mup.sys error

[nmunafo]

My friend's computer had an problem. He was unable to boot his XP SP2 system
with any setting, his system hanging on mup.sys in Safe Mode.

In an attempt to correct the problem, another friend installed another
version of XP creating a dual boot of XPs. That installation worked just
fine, but needs to be verified. We used that installation to remove all the
old files from the PC.

We tried all the fixes suggested for correcting a mup.sys error - disabling
L1 & L2 cache, removing all PCI boards, etc... Tried the Repair Module -
fixboot, fixmbr... None fixed the problem.

However, while removing the personal files, we found that Windows Update
seemed to have been running the night/early AM the computer stopped running.
I don't remember if the power went out that night, but could an Update
stopped in the middle of install cause this problem?

Anyway, as one of many last ditch efforts to avoid reformatting the HDD, I
created a slipstreamed XP SP3 bootable install CD. Inside the setup, I am
able to run the Repair Module and it recognizes both installations of XP, but
when I try to install/update to SP3 only recognizes the newer install. I am
hoping that uninstalling the newer install will allow the setup to see the
original XP in the install menu. Then, I can update it to SP3.

However, all the tutorials I have found to uninstall XP basically tell you
to go to the Windows you want to keep and remove the install directory for
the other version. My problem is that I cannot run the version I want to
keep. Is there any other way to do it?

I know I asked a lot of questions, but I would appreciate answers to any of
them. Thanks.

 

[Stephen Harris]

My friend's computer had an problem. He was unable to boot his XP SP2 system
with any setting, his system hanging on mup.sys in Safe Mode.

In an attempt to correct the problem, another friend installed another
version of XP creating a dual boot of XPs. That installation worked just
fine, but needs to be verified. We used that installation to remove all the
old files from the PC.

We tried all the fixes suggested for correcting a mup.sys error - disabling
L1 & L2 cache, removing all PCI boards, etc... Tried the Repair Module -
fixboot, fixmbr... None fixed the problem.

However, while removing the personal files, we found that Windows Update
seemed to have been running the night/early AM the computer stopped running.
I don't remember if the power went out that night, but could an Update
stopped in the middle of install cause this problem?

Anyway, as one of many last ditch efforts to avoid reformatting the HDD, I
created a slipstreamed XP SP3 bootable install CD. Inside the setup, I am
able to run the Repair Module and it recognizes both installations of XP, but
when I try to install/update to SP3 only recognizes the newer install. I am
hoping that uninstalling the newer install will allow the setup to see the
original XP in the install menu. Then, I can update it to SP3.

However, all the tutorials I have found to uninstall XP basically tell you
to go to the Windows you want to keep and remove the install directory for
the other version. My problem is that I cannot run the version I want to
keep. Is there any other way to do it?

I know I asked a lot of questions, but I would appreciate answers to any of
them. Thanks.

Well, you can install a Windows.000 on the same partition
that hosts the original Windows installation. That doesn't
disturb the data, but I think the apps won't be working.

Acronis has different options for backup. The whole disk
or select partitions on the disk. I think it can back up
applications. See if you can backup the applications of
the original Windows partition. Backup the data separately.
Then reformat the whole drive and reinstall the SP3 slipstream.

Now if the second instance or partition of the dual boot is
working, you can clone the second partition onto the first
partition (clone the second of the XP dual boot onto the first).
And then delete the second partition of the dual boot.
IMO, the difficult aspect of this is keeping that registry
which has the installed application information and Program Files.
It doesn't seem to me that the approaches so far understand this,
that is, I don't see how the previous approaches accomplish this.

Anyway this is an interesting topic and I hope I see an easier
answer than mine. On some computers, the SP3 update has been
released through automatic updates. SP3 fails to complete or
some other error which causes various boot problems.

Regards

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My friend's computer had an problem. He was unable to boot his XP SP2
system
with any setting, his system hanging on mup.sys in Safe Mode.

In an attempt to correct the problem, another friend installed another
version of XP creating a dual boot of XPs. That installation worked just
fine, but needs to be verified. We used that installation to remove all
the
old files from the PC.

We tried all the fixes suggested for correcting a mup.sys error -
disabling
L1 & L2 cache, removing all PCI boards, etc... Tried the Repair Module -
fixboot, fixmbr... None fixed the problem.

However, while removing the personal files, we found that Windows Update
seemed to have been running the night/early AM the computer stopped
running.
I don't remember if the power went out that night, but could an Update
stopped in the middle of install cause this problem?

Anyway, as one of many last ditch efforts to avoid reformatting the HDD, I
created a slipstreamed XP SP3 bootable install CD. Inside the setup, I am
able to run the Repair Module and it recognizes both installations of XP,
but
when I try to install/update to SP3 only recognizes the newer install. I
am
hoping that uninstalling the newer install will allow the setup to see the
original XP in the install menu. Then, I can update it to SP3.

However, all the tutorials I have found to uninstall XP basically tell you
to go to the Windows you want to keep and remove the install directory for
the other version. My problem is that I cannot run the version I want to
keep. Is there any other way to do it?

I know I asked a lot of questions, but I would appreciate answers to any
of
them. Thanks.

I'm a little unclear about your post and what you're actually asking.
You write
"In an attempt to correct the problem, another friend installed another
version of XP creating a dual boot of XPs. That installation worked just
fine, but needs to be verified."

Questions:
- "What do you mean with "verified"?
- If this installation works fine, where is the problem?
- What exactly do you mean with "while removing the personal files"?
- Seeing that your previous best efforts to keep the original version
failed, why don't you simply keep the new version of WinXP?
- Where exactly was the original installation? Where is the new version?
By the way, your old system probably loaded mup.sys successfully but
it locked up on the driver that came after mup.sys. What driver this is
I would not know but re-installing Windows was a good solution. I would
keep that new new version.

 

[nmunafo]

The "other" version of XP is from a disc that has already been
verified/activated on another computer. We are only using it during the trial
period, because it cannot be activated/verified on a second computer. We used
it to create backups of our friend's music, photos, documents, etc...

Because we cannot keep the second copy of XP on the computer any longer than
the trial period, it is no use to keep it. The second version was installed
to C:\Windows2, while the original was installed to C:\Windows.

To clarify the "when removing personal files" statement - While we were in
the second version of XP, looking at files on the HDD, we looked at files
that had been modified (from the ORIGINAL XP) on the night the computer had
stopped working. We saw that the Windows Update log file (from the ORIGINAL
XP) seemed to indicate that it had installed an update/updates that night,
but I don't know if it had finished installing them. I was hoping that if the
power were to go out in the middle of the installation of an update, that it
could have caused the boot problems experienced with the original XP. Stephen
Harris's comment indicates that it is a possibility.

That's why I created a slipstreamed XP SP3 bootable CD to install/update the
original XP to SP3, hoping that might cure the boot problem.

My biggest issue is this - when I boot from the XP SP3 CD, I can find both
copies of XP in the repair module, but I can only find the second
installation in the install menu. I am looking to uninstall the second
version of XP in hopes that the install menu will then recognize the original
installation (plus the second XP's trial period is about to expire anyway).
However, every tutorial I have seen tells you to login to the Windows you
want to KEEP, which I can't do because it won't boot.

So my BIGGEST question is - Is there any way to uninstall the second version
of XP without logging in to the original version?

My friend never got an XP cd with his system (stupid package deals), so I am
trying to avoid wiping his HDD, so he doesn't have to buy another OS.

If I missed anything in dealing with the mup.sys bootup error, I'd
appreciate advice, but I'm really looking for how to uninstall XP without
running another version of XP.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The "other" version of XP is from a disc that has already been
verified/activated on another computer. We are only using it during the
trial
period, because it cannot be activated/verified on a second computer. We
used
it to create backups of our friend's music, photos, documents, etc...

Sorry, I'm unable to wrap my mind around your particular
configuration. Perhaps some other respondent can assist.

A fresh installation onto a newly formatted disk would get
you out of this quagmire.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Friend 1, while trying to helpful, royally screwed things up.

MUP.SYS is simply usually the last driver to get loaded as Safe Mode is
loading, and has nothing to do with the issue.

While I can't give you specific instructions off the top of my head, I
believe your solution is to use any XP installation disk to launch the
Recovery Console, log on to the old system, use the console to remove the
new Windows directories, and then go to the original Windows folder, run the
following:
DIR /ah $NtUninstal

That will list all the updates that have been installed (unless some fool
deleted those folders, or worse, has a utility installed that automatically
deletes them.) Inside each one is a folder called SPUNIST that can be used
to uninstall the Update. Determine which Updates may have been installed on
the night in question (by the date of the $NtUninstal******* folder), and
uninstall them. Then test to see if it works.

Now, you say that Friend 1 used his own CD to install the second XP system.
That suggests that either the owner lost his installation CD or that some
kind of "Restore" CD or partition is installed and that they were afraid of
screwing up and performing a destructive restore. Many if not most such
systems, anymore, include non-destructive Repair install or similar. What is
the make/model of the machine?