Safemode won't work=/

[FrictionBoy87]

Hey guys! I'm not positive this is the right place to post this but if I'm wrong just bump it please =D Anyways, heres the problem...

(I'm using Windows XP Professional)

Safemode won't work. I restart my computer, hit the F8 key to get to the OS Startup options list or whatever, and I select Safeboot. it then goes to this black screen where it loads a ton of drivers. It loads all the drivers but stops on this thing called Mup.sys. I've done some looking around on this and it seems that Mup.sys isn't the problem but rather the file after that one. I've tried a lot of different methods suggested on other sites but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I tried booting up into the Windows XP Recovery Console and typing "Disable Mup". All that did was make it stop at the file before Mup.sys, further assuring me that its the file after that. So I did more research and found that it has something to do with certain information held on the motherboard that will make it hang there. Their suggestion was to reseed the memory and CMOS battery. So I took out the memory, the CMOS battery and left them out for a good 5 minutes just in case. Put them back in and, you guessed it, same thing=/ I've messed with a lot of different settings and I just can't seem to get anywhere on it. I can boot into Windows normally without any problems and I have no loss in performance at all. Its just I can't get to safemode and its really annoying! Any suggestions are welcome so please reply! Thanks a lot as always guys.
~Matthew

EDIT: Specs in signature are NOT the computer with the above issue...don't know if that matters.

[Panama Red]

Is your XP Pro disk with SP2 on it? Does the problem pc have SP2 loaded? If yes to both, I'd try running System File Checker. If that doesn't work, a repair install would be my next choice.

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

[FrictionBoy87]

I have already ran the System File Checker and it asked for the disk so I'm guessing it found something. And yes, the machine is running sp2. My only problem with doing the Windows repair is all the drivers its going to ask for. Won't that kind of be a mess?

EDIT: No, sp2 was not on the XP disk. But I went to the store and got an sp2 disk and thats how it was installed on the machine.

[Panama Red]

No drivers need on the repair install. It's an over the top type of reapair that doesn't touch programs or files or drivers. Just have to do Windows Updates from the date of the XP disk you're using.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[FrictionBoy87]

Alright I'll give it a go I guess. Thanks for the help. I'll post my results.

[FrictionBoy87]

Okay, I tried to do an XP Repair and heres what happened.

First off when i turned on the computer I got a *Windows cannot boot* error. I had a similar problem earlier and it had something to do with the boot.ini file. So I just put in a boot disk that I had made awhile ago and usually that would get it started back up. This time it took me to another black screen that said *error loading hal.dll* and *cannot findi hal.dll*. So I was like ehh alright I'll just do the repair right now. So I booted with the XP Professional disk, chose *Setup Windos XP Now* or whatever it says and then hit R to repair. It went into the repair and it looked like all was well, until I got to the *13 minutes remaining* on Registering Files. it just stopped there...and didn't move for a good 2 hours. I figured that was more than enough time to figure out that it wasn't going to work. So I turned it off and let it boot to windows like normal and tried to go through the setup again. Same thing. I then booted from the disk again and did another repair. It warned me that I had already tried but I just told it to anyways. I got back into the windows xp setup screen again but this time it didn't even bring up the box to put in the key or anything. It just stopped at 34 minutes remaning. I don't want to lose the information on the drive by wiping all of it. Any suggestions?

BTW, yes I have backed up and would only lose about 1 folder of pictures. But it would still be nice if I could just get it to work. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Okay, scratch that. After doing the repair again and waiting an extensive amount of time, it went back to the XP setup and is once again hanging on that *13 minutes remaining* mark. =(

[FrictionBoy87]

Weird stuff man. So after it sitting there forever at *13 minutes remaining* it finishes up and lets me back into Windows and is running fine again. Everything except for safemode=/ Which is what I am trying to fix!! Grrr...anyways heres a few things that seem to be odd to me. When I go to Start/Run and type msconfig there is no Boot.ini tab. I had this problem before and had decided that was most likely why safemode wasn't working. So last time I just found a new boot.ini file and put it in C:. On a few different websites it said that is what you should do. Now I've done the repair and I don't want to mess anything up again. So what should I do right now? I obviously need to get the boot.ini tab back. Any ideas would be awesome guys. Thanks a lot.
~Matthew

*sigh*

[bailey]

I think you want to do a repaire install, not the way you did by doing a repaire.
there is a big differance
don't do the repaire, continue on as a install and you will come to a option to reinstall you existing install which will reinstall the xp with out tuching any of the settings or other software you now have,
you will need to reinstall any updates and servicepacks when done.