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Trying to recover. File missing. Need help.

J

Jose

Flightless Bird
My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted registry hives.
The computer will get stuck in the black Windows XP screen and if I try to
boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the mup.sys file.

I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is to replace
the registry hives with the ones in the c:/windows/repair folder.

The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is not there.

I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer. Every thread
answer I read is sending the OP all over the place but not answering the
question directly.

Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system file?

I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no "system" file in
the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only file in there (just like in my
laptop) is system.bak

Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system" file that
is supposed to be in the repair folder?

Thanks
 
P

Pegasus [MVP]

Flightless Bird
"Jose" <Jose@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:549E330A-C248-4988-8053-4E38D8B917CB@microsoft.com...
> My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted registry
> hives.
> The computer will get stuck in the black Windows XP screen and if I try to
> boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the mup.sys file.
>
> I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is to
> replace
> the registry hives with the ones in the c:/windows/repair folder.
>
> The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is not
> there.
>
> I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer. Every thread
> answer I read is sending the OP all over the place but not answering the
> question directly.
>
> Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system file?
>
> I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no "system" file
> in
> the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only file in there (just like in
> my
> laptop) is system.bak
>
> Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system" file
> that
> is supposed to be in the repair folder?
>
> Thanks


The Repair folder is the only place where you will find a backup copy of the
registry files. However, it would probably useless because it does not get
updated automatically. It is likely to be several years old, which means
that it is out of step with the many updates that have happened since. Why
it disappeared I cannot say.

On Windows 7 (and perhaps on Vista), Windows updates the registry backup
files automatically about once a week. On WinXP/2000 you need to create a
scheduled task that does it for you. An even better method would be to
create an image of your installation, using a tool like Acronis DriveImage.
Unfortunately this won't help you retrospectively.
 
D

DL

Flightless Bird
You can, in future, use ERUNT to backup the registry, and recover
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/


"Jose" <Jose@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:549E330A-C248-4988-8053-4E38D8B917CB@microsoft.com...
> My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted registry
> hives.
> The computer will get stuck in the black Windows XP screen and if I try to
> boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the mup.sys file.
>
> I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is to
> replace
> the registry hives with the ones in the c:/windows/repair folder.
>
> The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is not
> there.
>
> I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer. Every thread
> answer I read is sending the OP all over the place but not answering the
> question directly.
>
> Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system file?
>
> I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no "system" file
> in
> the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only file in there (just like in
> my
> laptop) is system.bak
>
> Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system" file
> that
> is supposed to be in the repair folder?
>
> Thanks
 
J

Jose

Flightless Bird
On May 20, 10:33 am, Jose <J...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted registry hives.
> The computer will get stuck in the black Windows XP screen and if I try to
> boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the mup.sys file.
>
> I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is to replace
> the registry hives with the ones in the c:/windows/repair folder.
>
> The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is not there.
>
> I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer. Every thread
> answer I read is sending the OP all over the place but not answering the
> question directly.
>
> Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system file?
>
> I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no "system" file in
> the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only file in there (just like inmy
> laptop) is system.bak
>
> Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system" file that
> is supposed to be in the repair folder?
>
> Thanks


There is probably not a problem with your mup.sys file. XP has gotten
past mup.sys and is trying to load the next item It is what comes
after mup.sys that is the causing the system to hang - usually (but
not always) i8042prt.sys.

Sometimes with this issue, you just need to wait with mup.sys on your
screen... - sometimes you have to wait a while for XP to get past the
file after mup.sys. I would wait several minutes. This may allow you
to get past the problem and resume troubleshooting whatever your issue
is.

Describe your current peripheral situation - keyboard, mouse, printer,
USB devices, wireless, etc. and start suspecting them first. Anything
new added since the system last booted successfully?

Unplug everything except the keyboard (if a desktop). You only need a
keyboard to boot, and try your Safe Mode operation with just a KB and
see what that does for you. If you boot okay, start plugging things
back in one at a time until your system hang again and then you have
identified the culprit and can fix the real problem. I usually find
it is some mouse issue. If you have a wired keyboard - use it. Get
down to the simplest configuration so you can at least boot.

Depending on what led up to the situation (any new hardware. drivers,
updates?), from the F8 boot menu you can also choose:

Last known good configuration

which will load the system using the information from the last time XP
thinks it booted successfully, then you can undo whatever caused you
to get it this situation in the first place - usually uninstalling
whatever you installed or undoing your last change.

If your system (appears to) hang up mup.sys and then reboots after
some period of waiting (I would wait several minutes), from the F8
boot menu choose:

Disable automatic restart on system failure

and let the system fail again. If you see the blue screen of death,
it will probably have all the information you need to figure out what
is wrong and fix it.

There is nothing wrong with mup.sys and probably nothing wrong with
your registry. Copying in old registry files is tedious and exacting
and may not be necessary at all. It is a good exercise though.

This is why when you Google the problem of a system hanging on
mup.sys, you see so many ideas of what to try and they never work
because nobody seems to understand that the problem is not mup.sys at
all - it is what comes after it.
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

Flightless Bird
Sounds like a W32/Alureon-variant rootkit infection.

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)?

Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
it)?

Was the computer fully-patched at Windows Update before this problem started
and is KB979683 or KB977165 found in Add/Remove Programs (after making sure
the Show Updates box at the top is checked)?


Jose wrote:
> My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted registry
> hives.
> The computer will get stuck in the black Windows XP screen and if I try to
> boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the mup.sys file.
>
> I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is to
> replace
> the registry hives with the ones in the c:/windows/repair folder.
>
> The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is not
> there.
>
> I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer. Every thread
> answer I read is sending the OP all over the place but not answering the
> question directly.
>
> Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system file?
>
> I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no "system" file
> in
> the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only file in there (just like in
> my
> laptop) is system.bak
>
> Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system" file
> that
> is supposed to be in the repair folder?
>
> Thanks
 
J

John Wunderlich

Flightless Bird
=?Utf-8?B?Sm9zZQ==?= <Jose@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:549E330A-C248-4988-8053-4E38D8B917CB@microsoft.com:

> My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted
> registry hives. The computer will get stuck in the black Windows
> XP screen and if I try to boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the
> mup.sys file.
>
> I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is
> to replace the registry hives with the ones in the
> c:/windows/repair folder.
>
> The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is
> not there.
>
> I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer.
> Every thread answer I read is sending the OP all over the place
> but not answering the question directly.
>
> Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system
> file?
>
> I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no
> "system" file in the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only
> file in there (just like in my laptop) is system.bak
>
> Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system"
> file that is supposed to be in the repair folder?
>
> Thanks


First of all, I agree with Jose. Try his suggestions. If you still
want to access a backup copy of the registry, I suggest that you follow
the procedure in the article:

"How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545>

But since you don't have a c:/windows\repair\system file, you can make
the following changes to the Microsoft Procedure:
1) Download and create a Live Linux Boot disk [such as Knoppix]
Knoppix: <http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html>
2) Boot your system from this CD. This has several advantages in that
Linux ignores Windows file protections. Because of this, you can
skip "Part 1" of the KB article above and go straight to Part 2.
You can perform the Step 2 tasks using Linux to access your
backed-up copy of the registry in your "System Volume Information"
directory. Also, if all else fails, you can use the Linux disk to
backup your files to a USB drive or to a networked drive before
you re-install Windows.

Good Luck,
John
 
J

Jose

Flightless Bird
On May 20, 3:17 pm, John Wunderlich <jwunderl...@lycos.com> wrote:
> =?Utf-8?B?Sm9zZQ==?= <J...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote innews:549E330A-C248-4988-8053-4E38D8B917CB@microsoft.com:
>
>
>
>
>
> > My laptop, which runs XP Home SP3, appears to have corrupted
> > registry hives. The computer will get stuck in the black Windows
> > XP screen and if I try to boot in Safe Mode it gets stuck in the
> > mup.sys file.

>
> > I researched the problem and have found the apparent solution is
> > to replace the registry hives with the ones in the
> > c:/windows/repair folder.

>
> > The "system" file that is supposed to be in the repair folder is
> > not there.

>
> > I researched that and nobody seems to have a straight answer.
> > Every thread answer I read is sending the OP all over the place
> > but not answering the question directly.

>
> > Where can I find another copy of the c:/windows/repair/system
> > file?

>
> > I looked at my desktop (which runs XP Pro) and there is no
> > "system" file in the c:/windows/repair folder either. The only
> > file in there (just like in my laptop) is system.bak

>
> > Can someone tell me where can I find another copy of the "system"
> > file that is supposed to be in the repair folder?

>
> > Thanks

>
> First of all, I agree with Jose.  Try his suggestions.  If you still
> want to access a backup copy of the registry, I suggest that you follow
> the procedure in the article:
>
> "How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
> starting"
>   <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545>
>
> But since you don't have a c:/windows\repair\system file, you can make
> the following changes to the Microsoft Procedure:
> 1) Download and create a Live Linux Boot disk [such as Knoppix]
>    Knoppix: <http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html>
> 2) Boot your system from this CD.  This has several advantages in that
>    Linux ignores Windows file protections.  Because of this, you can
>    skip "Part 1" of the KB article above and go straight to Part 2.
>    You can perform the Step 2 tasks using Linux to access your
>    backed-up copy of the registry in your "System Volume Information"
>    directory.  Also, if all else fails, you can use the Linux disk to
>    backup your files to a USB drive or to a networked drive before
>    you re-install Windows.
>
> Good Luck,
>   John


Well, if the system will not boot, there is no way to implement that
KB. The KB It is a good exercise though and actually does work as
described, but probably not needed fo this silly problem.

Using Last known good will load the registry snapshot created from the
last successful boot, but still leave the "what caused it" problem to
be resolved. Self inflicted I would imagine.

If Jose wants to implement the KB, he must boot on something and you
can boot and then implement the KB from the XP Recovery Console - a
bootable Recovery Console CD can be created by following this tutorial
also from from Jose (too many Joses).

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic276527.html

I am still suspecting a keyboard or mouse driver update (something
US8) that lead to the yet to be specified issue. I can purposely make
my system appear to hang on mup.sys and BSOD any day, any time. We
are good friends now - this mup.sys hang situation and I.
 
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