Can you verify that the MSSearch account is running under the local system
account. Has anyone modified the SQL Server service account through the
services applet in control panel as opposed to using EM?  To fix this, right
click on your server in EM, select properties, click the security tab,
change it to run under the system account, bounce your SQL Server, and then
modify it again to run under a local admin account.

Also verify that no one has removed the builtin\admin account from the
system administrators role. To do this connect to your SQL Server in EM,
expand the security folder and expand the server roles node. Double click on
the system administrator role and ensure the builtin\administrators account
is present.

if not run the following in qa.

if not exists (select * from master.dbo.syslogins where
loginname = N'NT Authority\System')
exec sp_grantlogin N'NT Authority\System'
exec sp_defaultdb N'NT Authority\System', N'master'
exec sp_defaultlanguage N'NT Authority\System',
N'us_english'
GO
exec sp_addsrvrolemember N'NT Authority\System', sysadmin
GO