Isass.exe system error--XP won't boot

[McGuireV10]

Actually I'm a Senior Architect for a Fortune 50 corporation. I know quite a lot about Windows 2003, and was even a beta tester for both it and the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET. My current orientation towards MS is a love/hate relationship, and I only mentioned DOS 1.xx to point out that this relationship goes back to dealing with MS at the very, very beginning. I have 24 years of computers under my belt, and I hate to say that my opinion of MS has declined steadily for the past 7 or 8 years.

However, I must agree, I don't have a lot of hope for Linux. I don't actually LIKE using Linux at all (I've installed it and used it here and there) -- I'm just sick and tired of running into dead ends like this lsass error. It's merely the ONLY half-viable alternative out there (you couldn't GIVE me a Mac... at least, not one that I wouldn't turn around and sell as quickly as possible). I've spent a LOT of personal money with Microsoft in my life, and I've spent literally millions through various employers on various projects, and I just don't feel like MS is holding up their end of the deal any more.

I have plenty of options for backing up -- a network, lots of other machines, and so on -- I just didn't have anything convenient.

I run XP because I have to write software for several thousand users running XP, and long experience has taught me it's a lot easier if my daily-use system is the same as my primary target system. I run Tiny because I *know* what it does, and it gives me a lot of control. The XP firewall is largely undocumented, and I simply don't trust MS to do a good job. It might actually be better. It could be amazingly fantastic -- but I don't trust it, whereas TPFW is well-known, small, reliable, and highly configurable.

DOS 6.22 -- agreed.

Mainly I just dropped in to add my two cents about what seems to have fixed the problem with lsass (which, by the way, I found stands for Local Security Administration System Service, just in case anybody was wondering).

[Kinslayer]

I wouldn't sell the Mac, because it would surely end up as some idiot asking me how to use it or, why they can't upgrade it or somthing. ..I would probably put it on the network, and lean it up against a door, to prop it open..if someone asks, I would simply say "It's my Doorstop server".

Ok, your XP excuse is probably the only one that I would accept.

..And as for the firewall, I would really expect you to have a hardware solution, they are so cheap these days.

[McGuireV10]

Originally posted by Kinslayer
..And as for the firewall, I would really expect you to have a hardware solution, they are so cheap these days.

I use LinkSys stuff to wire up the network -- amazing how cheap little 8-port switches are now, and the BEFSR41 is ok. I like the NetGear stuff better, but I had a LinkSys already.

I like Tiny because it lets me block net access per application. I don't like things like Media Player going out and doing who-knows-what without my approval... again, I just don't trust MS that much any more. Used to be, I wouldn't have cared, but not any more.

[demnos]

So, back to the lsass.exe errors. Any other suggestions for fixes/workarounds?

I have a computer here that is giving me the "Endpoint format is invalid" error. It comes up in safe-mode as well as in normal boot. I'm going to try disabling IPSEC to see if that works but I was just wondering if anyone has had any more luck with this.

[McGuireV10]

I had this happen on a second machine four days ago. Out of curiosity I tried disabling IPSEC again, and once again it didn't fix it. So then I uninstalled the MS RPC exploit patch (Q817606), and just like before, that fixed it.

[demnos]

Yes, but how do you install this if you can't login to windows. I cannot get into windows by either safe mode or by regular startup. The only thing that I can get anywhere with is the Recovery Console. Is it possible to install that update via the Recovery Console?

[McGuireV10]

In both cases, if I just kept rebooting, eventually Windows would start. Probably 1 out of every 10-15 tries. Networking didn't work, but everything else did. I was also able to start by choosing safe mode with networking -- oddly, safe mode without networking didn't work.

I don't think you could remove the update (that's what fixed it, not installing) from the Recovery Console, sorry.

[demnos]

I'm glad you had some luck with Safe Mode. I tried Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, VGA Mode, etc... and nothing works other then the repair console.

[alcantar]

Not ISASS but LSASS hope somebody takes this information and can finally solve this problem...

LSASS=Local Security Authority Subsystem
has something to do with RPC maybe some patch or hot fix has come up lately??

Good luck!

[demnos]

I ended up solving the problem by running a Windows XP repair.

WinXP Repair:
1) Boot computer using Windows XP CD
2) A menu should come up asking if you want to install windows xp or enter the recovery mode. Choose Install.
3) The next menu should give you several options and one of them should be Repair (Press R). If you select Repair you shouldn't lose any of your programs or their settings. Just make sure you don't choose to install over your current XP installation, that will erase your settings. Make sure you choose the Repair option.
4) After Windows XP goes through its whole Repair process (looks a lot like a new install), you should be able to log back in to your computer. That is, if you were having the same lsass.exe error that I was.

Hope this helps someone. I did this and it worked fine and I didn't lose anything.