Won't boot - safe mode stops at Mup.sys

Looks like a weekend of computer repair for me. I am hoping someone can help like you've done before, so maybe I do not have to buy a new Dell (though their deals look really good this weekend).

I have a 2006 Dell Dimension E510 with XP. It has locked up frequently lately, so I guess it is getting old. The 500 GB Seagate drive is only about three years old though.

Problem is that it stops booting up right after I see "Loading PBR...." flash across the screen. I just get a black screen.

When I try to boot in safe mode, it locks up at Mup.sys.

I am running a very very long test, and so far the only error is 654c:041c, Channel 2 is not operating correctly. No periodic ticks were generated.....

I put in a new battery, but no change, if that could have helped.

Another error I saw last night was 6526:011B, Wrong interrupt count....

Both hard drives passed their diagnostics tests.

I guess I should mention that this week I added a second 17 inch monitor, and a few days later this problems surfaced.

I pulled out the video card and re-seated it, unplugged all extra devices, re-booted a million times, but same problem.

If someone has suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you. Tom

 

often a scandisk session followed by fixboot and mbrfix will cure this.. it's always mup.sys.. it's the file after.

don't do winblows any more.. but thats how I do it.. got some boot disks with ntfschk and friends on.

 

Thanks. Are fixboot and mbrfix things I can do at the c: prompt with my Norton Recovery Tool? And if I can run them, will my data still be on the drive?

I did chkdsk that took hours and same problem continues. I also tried Recovery but some .dll was missing, so that's another issue. It said, This application has failed to start because SRRSTR.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem. I have also moved unplugged and re-seated everything, and pretty much just get the one error about Cahnnel 2 not functioning.

So, maybe I"ll just buy a new Dell today and stick this 500GB drive as the slave and copy my doc and pics to the new drive, instead of wasting more time and possibly wiping this drive. Your thoughts? And thanks again.

 

ddp, Thanks for that link. I just did as described, and it looked promising, but still no change. There is a part in there about going in to setup and changing the date back a month. What if the clock was bad in this thing and there is no restore point? The registry just shows default.

 

The two HDDs are sata. I have about decided it may be the motherboard, and with it being so old, I may just buy a Dell 620st for about $550 and put this old 500 GB drive in the new PC to get the docs, pics, etc off of it, then use the old drive as an internal backup. Unless you have any other suggestions to save this antique. Thank you

 

I'd consider it, but am not sure it would be much cheaper.

Anyway, I just found a BIOS update at Dell that I loaded onto a floppy and to a thumb drive. Does anyone know how I can install that on the PC to see if it helps? I can get a c: prompt or x: prompt through my Norton Recovery disk. Thanks. Tom

 

on googling this it seems the concensus is that it is related to your video card.if you have onboard video it doesnt apply.it seems this is a dell only problem.sorry this is all i have.as cliched as it sounds.google it.

 

aldan, Thanks for trying to help. I again ran the Express Test and in the Processoer section, the Timer Functionality fails, so I am still thinking motherboard.

I was able to update the BIOS tonight, but nothing changed.

I'd still like to figure it out, but my new Dell is on its way. I'd love to have tried to build my own, but for less than $600 delivered for an i5, 8GB ram, and 1TB, and a card for two monitors, I had to go with mass production.

Thanks everyone for the help. If I had a low cost motherboard to try in this antique, I'd do it for curiosity sake. Otherwise, I guess I'll part it out. Thanks again. Tom

 

does your computer have a video card or onboard video.anything i read on it says it points towards mother board but it just aint so.if you do have a removable video card i would suggest checking some of this info out.it took me five minutes to find info pertinent to your problem.on the other hand,if money is no object,you could use it for a wheelstop.lol.

 

I do not see anything pointing to the video card, but I would try to boot without the card if that was possible. I assume it's not possible since I would not be able to see the screen. Is there any way to test that without a replacement card or just re-seating it a third time? Thanks. Tom

 

Thanks for doing that research, but I apparently bought a better video card, so it's not internal. This is what came with my Dell in 2006:

ATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB Video Card, PCI-E, DVI, VGA, TV, Graphic Card, Dell KH285

 

are you absolutely sure you dont have onboard video? you can still add a card if you do.what ddp proposes is to basically take out your existing video card.if it boots up ok that means its on your onboard video.if i am correct yours came with onboard "built in".this cant just be physically removed and replaced with your upgraded card.its still there.sorry to be repetitive here but i dont feel you are getting the point here.hope it works out for you.

 

aldan and ddp, thanks for your help and patience. I had looked really hard for a second vga plug before, but I did not pull a black cover off that I just learned was covering it. So, the good news is that with your persistence, I found and tried the built in plug, so now I am smarter about PCs. The bad news is...no change. Guess I am back to a bad board or maybe software, but Dell did not give me a disk with XP. If I had one, I could probably try to load it on my second internal drive to see if it works without losing my main drive's data. Thanks again. You guys are a big help.

 

ddp you may want to chime in on this but dont you have to either disable your addon video card in bios or physically remove it to use the onboard video?i think it would be prudent to actually remove the addon card.