lsass.exe - system error / Object Name not found.

I have checked many articles to solve this issue on the web but none of them has helped me so far. I have a system that am running from past 2 years with the same load, the files in the C:\WINDOWS\REPAIR folder are dated from that era. I have got many applications installed on my machine and also have SYMANTEC Internet Security with all the recent updates. I usually dont shut down my computer and today when I woke up I got a greyed desktop and a dialogue box telling me that the system was cleaned and I have to restart it. So after clicking the ok buttong the computer restarted. After that system got almost to the logon screen, I got another dialogu box with an error that was saying "lsass.exe - system error". I was not able to get to the password prompt to type it so I clicked ok and when the machine restarted then it came back to the same screen again. Now I am tired and want a fix for this issue? Can anyone please help me out? Thanks.

Have you tried to scan the hard drive by connecting it as a slave to another machine with some antivirus software? You havent told enough on what has give the message about something which could be an Antivirus or a system message? Can you try to rename the file Lsass.exe/Isass.exe by connecting the troublesome hard drive to another machine after scanning and locating this directory - C:\windows\system32\lsass.exe and C:\windows\system32\dllcache\lsass.exe. Try to rename them to Isass.exe.OLD and Restart with troublesome HDD as A primary (back as it was) boot option and see if it will boot up okay.

Thanks for the reply, I tried renaming those but it didnt work. Can you tell me any other ideas?

Take a look at the below microsoft articles and see if that helps:

You cannot log on or you experience a long delay on a domain controller or on a member computer that is running Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883268

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

How about trying the restart the recovery Console and Fixboot and fixmbr commands as here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

Thanks but after following all the troubleshooting method from those links, still it didnt work for me. When I try to boot fro the UBCD, I can see the registry files. I am able to load them and view them and I can also see all the Users.

I had this exact same, problem, this is how I solved it in about 5 seconds:

1) When the Lsass.exe error dialog box pops up, hit ok, so that your PC reboots.

2) Then when the very first Dell Bios screen or equivalent flashes up on your screen, Press the F8 key when the operating system selection page is displayed or before the computer starts Windows. This is the same f8 operation you normally use when you want to choose Safe Mode, only we are not going to choose Safe Mode.

3) The screen will now show several choices of how you want Windows to load. Select the "Last Known Good Configuration" option.

My PC booted up instantly into windows with no problem. Went from catastrophe to working perfectly in 5 seconds, the turnaround of all turnarounds!

Forget all the nonsense you hear from other people about this being a virus. Everyone blames everything on viruses. The only virus here is Windows XP, and your registry most likely got slightly corrupted, so this just reverts back to the last known working version. Stuff like this happens a couple of times a year, I usually just boot of a system cd, enter repair mode, run chkdsk /r to repair the disk, then reboot. Only when I ran the F8 sequence I mentioned above after the chkdsk did it work. Coincidentally, this whole problem started during a MacAfee scan, which no bad files were found, so MacAfee could have been the culprit. I’ve seen this happen before.

If you still experience the problem, follow these steps to log on to the computer and to run Sc.exe at Microsoft’s tech support page for this error:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883268.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

I've recently had this same problem. It's a Dell Dimension 4600; it's been running more or less non-stop since 1/31/03.

My problem started when I attempted to upgrade Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 to 2009.

The only difference I would point out for my situation is: I can boot using the last known good configuration. And of course any tools I run will find nothing wrong, because it's the Last Know GOOD Configuration. I can shut down and power on fine. But if I try to reboot/restart the lsass.exe system error appears.

I find it hard to believe that three separate incidents, involving MacAfee, Norton AND Trend Micro, all being the catalyst for the same problem. There must be some inherent "failure" within windows for this to happen.

I will attempt the good config boot and chkdsk and hopefully that fixes it, I would rather not have to do a fresh install on my system either.

Thanks for the help, it was very informative and the best solution I've found thus far.