Looks pretty much like a virus issue (Lamer Executor comes on my mind).
Funny assumption. Lamer Exterminator write LAMER!LAMER!LAMER!LAMER! etc. to the disk. Also L.E. is a bootblock virus. It cannot infect a HDD, there is no bootblock on a HDD.
This DOS-DOS-DOS-DOS thing is done by Format. This looks like a freshly formatted partition. Only the first block has been wiped. It should read DOS\03 in the first four bytes and the rest of the block should be filled with zeroes.
Bye,
Thomas
