LSASS.EXE error after several disk repairs

[Steve Nielsen]

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion of this being a trojan please read
on, although I'm not ruling that out...

Brand new, fully updated XP Pro with up to date latest version Command
Software Antivirus with active protection enabled. User had it one day
and the next morning it woke up dead; disk problem, OS files can't be
found. My boss booted from XP Pro CD, got into Recovery Console and ran
CHKDSK /R as per manufacturer's instructions ("Bummer dude! You got a
DELL!") and all is well until next boot and the same thing happened.

I repeated CHKDSK /R fixed errors, reboot, same condition, repeated
again and this time it says it found unrecoverable errors. On a whim I
repeated CHKDSK /R several times with the same result five more times,
kept repeating CHKDSK /R and then it started fixing errors again, kept
repeating it until no errors (I can be quite tenacious, can't I?).
Rebooted and now it pops up with that nasty LSASS.EXE error. I looked up
on Symantec's site and there are at least half a dozen trojans/worms
that could be responsible. Unfortunately I can't even get into Safe Mode
without the LSASS.EXE error poping up and no matter what is done the
machine reboots so I can't scan for viruses.

Any ideas of how to procede short of a complete reinstallation? Also,
I'd like your opinions:
Failing drive?
Infection?
Both?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Rich Barry]

Steve, check here http://tinyurl.com/rcg7

 

[Steve Nielsen]

None of the articles I read from that search seem to apply exactly.

I've since confirmed that the user had not opened any email attachments
or visited any odd sites so I think the possibility of a
trojan/virus/worm condition can be eliminated. Appears to be a
thoroughly corrupted OS now, likely do to the HDD crapping out, since
there were so many errors, etc.

Thanks,
Steve