XP stops loading at Welcome screen, no XP disc avaliable

[Iridius]

I've been having this problem for a few months. Upon starting my PC (XP home, sp2), my computer will boot as normally until reaching the blue Welcome screen, at which point I can only operate my mouse cursor. I've looked around and found several ways to fix the issue -- none of which have worked, or I don't have the resources I need.

1) Repair Console; Not an option, as I don't have a copy of the XP CD. My friend let me borrow his in order to install it on my PC when we built it.

2) Fix/Replace "MUP.sys"; Impossible, I can't access any of my files.

3) Remove hardware; I've already stripped my PC down to the essentials in order to run. Still seizes up at the Welcome screen.

4) Use last restore point; It simply reboots when I attempt this.

5) Stop auto-reboots after a crash; Despite being told I had to access the F8 Boot menu, I actually had to access the F2 setup menu to try this method. Upon turning off the auto-reboot, I discovered that, as expected, instead of preventing the system from restarting after a crash, it did nothing and allowed it to reboot again normally.

6) Safe Mode; when I attempt this, the PC flashes it's lines of text, then loads a black screen. The version of Windows I'm running appears in the top centre, all four corners say "Safe Mode", and... That's the end of it.

If anyone has any ideas other than these, please share. If my only option is replacing my HD, well, it's only eighty bucks.

 

[aford10]

Try safe mode with command prompt. At the command line, type:
%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
and press enter. This will open the system restore points. Use the available restore points to roll back before the problems started.

 

[Iridius]

I suppose I should've mentioned that I've tried all the safe modes, none of them work. Also, I can only get into safe mode by pure chance (When I reactivate the auto-reboot on crash, it'll give me the option whenever XP's version of the BSoD flashes), as none of the menus allow me to choose it. The F8 menu simply lets me select a boot device, and F2's always been setup.

EDIT; Found a way to the command prompt (An F5 menu that was invisible, the boot screen only said "F2; setup, F8; BBS popup).

However, all I get is a black screen with my windows version across the top and "Safe Mode" written in the corners. No command prompt. Any other ideas, or do I have to shell out the $200 for a copy of Seven?

 

[aford10]

Does it have a recovery partition? You could restore your PC to factory settings.

If not, you could borrow someone's XP disc, and do a windows repair. Here's a guide.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm

 

[Iridius]

Alright, thanks for trying.

 

[Zoron]

Always have a copy of your OS disc or recovery media handy... because there are a lot of problems that cannot be fixed without one.

 

[Iridius]

I understand that. The reason I don't have the disc is because the person who helped me build this thing wouldn't let me copy the disc we used to install XP.

 

[tigsounds]

I understand that. The reason I don't have the disc is because the person who helped me build this thing wouldn't let me copy the disc we used to install XP.

Strange that the friend wouldn't let you copy the disk, especially since you just built the computer and this friend helped in the project... where'd the CD key needed to install come from?