lsass.exe - system error

I posted the entry below in the Hijak forum and it was suggested that I post here instea. Here it goes! GREETINGS! I have created two topics on this board before, one of the topics was in this folder and dealt with DCOM server issues. (Thanks, catbyte!) Fixed that problem and everything seemed to run fine for a good 2 weeks. Then I noticed when I clicked on known links, I would be directed to advertising pages and I would have to click the back button to acutally see the page I was intending to go to. This lasted for 3 days before my computer just totally stop functioning. So I decided to restart my computer. BIG MISTAKE! I havent seen my destop since the fatal restart yesterday. I would get to the blue welcome screen without the icons to click to access my account and the computer would freeze. Well I googled my life away and found out that I should do a "manual steps to recover a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting". The steps seemed easy… Well when I finished the steps microsoft suggested, I got the error that "windows cannot start becuase missing config/system file". After googling some more, I attemped a system repair, but my comp wouldnt allow it and only had some options about a partioned drive blah blah. So I just install a second copy of XP in a different directory. So I have C:\windows and c:\winxp. I can get c:\winxp to load. After copying the config\system file from 'winxp' to my 'windows' I got the 'windows' to attempt to load. So I then ran a windows repair on the 'windows' version becuase it finally recongized the 'window' copy of the operating system. Repair was done and i figured I was on my way to surfing the net again!! If only I was so lucky, when I start 'windows' I get the lsass.exe system error which states, "when trying to update a password the return status indicates the…" and the computer cycles between restarting and showing that error message. So I just ran the 'winxp' version and did a AVG and malware scan. Comes back clean. (Even when I have it specifically scan the c:\windows folder) I have no clue what to do now. I am very close to just driving to best buy and getting another computer. (I am in school and a computer is very necessary.) Any help is very appreciated. Sorry for the long 'windedness'. p.s. I really really really dont want to wipe my drive clean since i really really need my files that are in 'windows'. This is a perfect example why you make backups of your files, which I haven't. If I can salvage my drive I PROMISE I will buy an external hardrive and backup EVERYTHING! -Still Joyful Hijack is below (this is from the winxp not the windows, don't know if that makes a difference)

Hi joyful, sorry it's taken so long for meo respond to your post here. CatByte from the malware team had to nudge us a bit and pointed out that you had come here from the malware forum.

The first thing you need to do is save the data you say you need from the original Windows installation. By this, I mean the data you have under your account from the original install, not data that is actually under the Windows directory, since there should be no user data of any kind there. All your data should be under:

C:\Documents and Settings\account name

unless you created directories (Folders) in other locations and placed data there. So what I'd like you to do is boot the new install (Winxp) and copy your data somewhere safe. Either burn it to CD/DVD, copy to a flash drive or external hard drive. Which of these do you have available?

Once your data is safe, then we can move on to fixing your original XP install.

Hello Ztruker! Thanks for responding! I have tried what you suggested. The problem when I did that was it said my folder wasn't accessible (some annoying system error) and was empty. I know the folder contained at least 20GB. So I downloaded the ultimate boot cd and had my admin password that 'lsass.exe' would no longer recognize, changed and restored my computer to a restore point I created, using the CD, since it allowed me to restore my Windows OS without it acutally being loaded. Got it to work! And as promised, I bought that external hard drive and backed up everything! I also did a windows repair and removed WINXP. Since everything is working currently, I think I am good to go. Thanks for responding! -Joyful

Quick Question: Do you think I should wipe everything off my computer anyway since I have it backed up, just in case the virus or whatever caused my problem is still on the computer, even though AVG scans detected nothing and I repaired the OS? -Joyful

No, I don't think it's necessary to wipe the drive and start over.

Ask an Admin to reopen your thread in the malware forum, post a new HJT log from the now working original XP install and let CatByte check it out.