ECS Nforce4-A939 NEED HELP mup.sys

[Juntao1]

like many people on these boards, @ Fry's BF sale i purchased the ECS / x2 3800 combo. It's been working fine for about week. 2 nights ago, i was watching some t.v. on the computer before i went to bed, when i woke up it was just a black screen, however the monitor lamp was still green showing it was active. I rebooted, went through post & bios and when it came around time for the windows logo screen, there it was again, a blank screen. Rebooted again, nothing, rebooted into safe mode, the system hangs up at Mup.sys. So i googled that file and found out people were having all kinds of issues with it. I didn't want to bother, so i tried to reformat and reinstall xp pro= no luck, 2000 = no luck, even nt 4.0 = no luck, even windows Me = it worked, so i tried xp pro again = no luck. just the blank screen, went into safe mode still hangs up at mup.sys Keep in mind now i have no OS installed. the XP pro installation can't finish because after it loads all the files and reboots it gets hung up. don't know what to do anyhelp would be nice.

since this issue...i stripped the rig down to just the mobo, video card, one stick 512mb ram, one 200gb HD, DVD-burner, and floppy drive.

At first i thought it was the motherboard, but now i have now clue. i tried disabling usb, lan, audio, everyting unecessary still no go. i tried to different ram, diferent cd-rom drive. the only thing i haven't tried was a different video card, i don't have any PCI-e cards laying around. and i don't have any extra mobo's laying around to test either. from what i read in other forums the problem is not the mup.sys file itself, it's what comes after that causes the hang-up.

HELP ME PLEASE...I just built this brand new rig and for now it's a huge, expensive paperweight.

 

[yukit]

Maybe clear the CMOS & try to update the BIOS to 1.1a?

 

[Juntao1]

thanks for the reply yukit. i tried thre different bios version that i could find 1.0g, 1.0h as well as 1.1a. i don't know what version it originally came with, but as soon as i put the rig together i updated to 1.1a. i tried default bios settings...disabling everything unecessary in bios and still just a blank screen.

 

[DragonGC]

um maybe ur northbridge is overheating or something else is overheating?

 

[yukit]

Can you run MemTest for a few hours?
You can also try a LiveCD (I recommend Knoppix or Ubuntu) to see if your system is functional without installing an OS on your disk.
I needed to use a LiveCD to fix grub installed in mbr after it was overwritten by WinXP installer.
BTW, Ubuntu LiveCD does include memtest, but it is not the latest version. It is probably good enough though.

 

[Juntao1]

thanks for the help guys...i don't think anything was overheating, i had it running pretty cool. That LiveCD sounds like an excellent idea. i'll have to download that for another time...but as for this problem, as of just now, i think my first instinct was right. I think it's a bad mobo...specifically the memory controller in the mobo. the problems i mentioned before are all still probably there but, now it just freezes up right when it boots ups, i guess during the post. it shows that CPU type but that's it. it should be showing the all the memory info and then ide info..but it just freezes showing the cpu type. I figure it's a bad memory controller???? do you guys happen to know fry's return policy for mobo's 15 or 30 day
...i'm a kinda a noob at this kinda stuff...i've been in IT for over 6 years. i work in networking, infrastructure, switching & routing but don't have much experience in PC hardware & maintenance. the last time i messed around w/ gaming rigs was back in the athlon thunderbird days....so i don't know if what i said above was right, but it made logical sense to me

 

[Peter]

I'd rather suspect it's too weak a power supply for the rig.

 

[Zap]

IIRC Fry's return period is 14 days, after which you need to go to the manufacturer. With ECS, may as well buy a new board because not only will you have to pay shipping to get the board to them, they have some service fee for RMA around $25 or so.

The memory controller is built into the CPU with socket 754/939/940.

 

[Juntao1]

i just exchanged the motherboard for the same one at fry's yesterday. i put it all together this morning fired it up, updated bios, had some problems but got through them...right now i'm in the process of loading XP MCE, i'll post updates or problems as they appear.

ZAP, i didn't know that about the memory controller...i guess my logic was wrong, you learn something new everyday.

Peter, the PS is an Antec SP 450w. i think it should be enough, i plugged all my hardware onto a PS calculator and was well within range.

...update...well i reformatted, xp disc loaded files then rebooted to a blank screen.
i guess now i'll try the ubuntu livecd

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Juntao1
you learn something new everyday.

That's one of the things that makes life interesting.

 

[Juntao1]

i was able to load the ubuntu live cd. i also ran memtest86 3.2 for about 3 1/2 hours (10 passes) no errors. SOOOOO FRUSTRATING.
windows 98, ME = all operational
NT 4.0, 2000, XP Pro, home, MCE, XP Pro w/ SP2 = installs OS files reboots to a blank screen. tried safe mode, it shows that it hangs up after MUP.sys

this driving me crazy how my system that was working just fine w/ xp pro sp2 a couple days ago, just decided not to.

 

[Zap]

Are you still trying the fresh Windows install with a stripped down system? If not, strip it back down to one HDD, one optical drive, both RAM sticks, CPU, HSF, video card, PSU and run it outside of the case with nothing else hooked up but keyboard/mouse/monitor/power cord.

 

[Juntao1]

that is exactly how it is set up right now...on top of my desk w/ an ESD mat. below are the things i have tried that i posted on another board:
1. go into safe mode "chkdsk /p" "chkdsk /r" = nothing
2. rearranged memorry into different dimm slots = nothing
3. clear bios = nothing
4. try all suggested bios remedies (ACPI, ESCD, etc) = nothing
5. try to disable all unecessary bios options (SATA, Serial, Parallel, USB) = nothing
6. at this point i something went wrong w/ xp so i try to reformat and relaod = nothing
7. i try xp pro (w/o any service pack), home, mce, 2000, nt 4.0 = nothing
8. windows 98 and Me = work fine
9. i try to load xp again on a separate partition = nothing
10. go into safe mode it is still hanging at mup.sys
11. try to delete mup.sys and agp440 but can't because windows nevere completed install and there is no registry or something like that
12. reflash bios nothing
13. remove dvd-rw = nothing ( so i reinstalled it) i also tried new IDE cables
14. tried to completeley reformat and reload xp pro (hoping a miracle would occur) = no miracle
15. at this point i am convinced it is the mobo, so i go to exchange it for a new one.
16. new mobo = same problem
17. i remove all hardware from mobo, clear it, and try again = nothing
18. i tried the ubuntu live cd = it works
19. ran memtest86 v3.2 for 3 1/2 hours (10 passes) = no errors
20. put HDD on an older system (Gateway P3 500mHz 384mb) = HDD works.
21. Tried a friends PS (Antec NEO HE 550) = nothing

I also tested on 2 different monitors (dell 17" CRT & NEC 20" LCD) using the ubuntu live cd @ 1024x768 and when i was running win 98 i had it set at 1280x1024.

The only thing i haven't tested was the video card w/ a different PCI-E or PCI video card i don't have any spares laying around.

one thing i must mention which i just noticed earlier today. when the machine is shut down, the mouse light (optical mouse) and keyboard light (num lock) remain on. I don't really know what that is all about (or if it has any significance) maybe it has something to do w/ S3 (STR) in the bios??? I never noticed it before and since it is a new rig w/ a fairly recent mobo i don't know if it was designed like that but i found it rather peculiar.

For some reason i suspect that if i try a different brand mobo i would be fine. There's just something about ECS that i have to question. ECS and weird computer problems come hand in hand.

 

[jfin66]

I have had the same problems on two Nforce systems with service pack 2.

To fix the problem....
1 Keep rebooting untill you can enter safe mode (may have to run a check disk from XP recovery).

2 Remove the Nividia ATA drivers.

My couputers have run perfectly for months after reverting to the default MS ATA drivers. When I try to go back to the Nividia ATA drivers for the improved performance the Mup.sys problems reappears. Hope this helps.