Domain Controller Issue

[trussman]

We are running XP Pro on our machines. For the most part all the machines can see our domain, except for two. When I try to connect to the domain, I get a box that indicates "A domain controller for the domain "Domain.local" could not be contacted. The computer and user is listed on the server, but the computers do not see this domain under My Network Places.

Is there an easy fix for this problem?

Thanks for any help.

 

[snootalope]

Sounds like a DNS issue.. check your TCP/IP props

 

[trussman]

snootalope - Actually I thought the same thing. I compared those settings with the others, and they match. I did find somewhere that maybe it might be the NIC. What are the chances of that?

 

[Cstorms]

Did you recently promote/decommission any domain controllers? Could it be looking for a SRV record that does not exist anymore? Typically if can use your internet connection once logged on locally thats about as good a test as any to see if the NIC is functioning, you should verify that your primary dns is pointing to the dns server thats hosts this AD integrated zone.

Good Luck!

Cory

 

[trussman]

The only thing that has changed in our office is the server. Basically we have been running a peer-to-peer network. We are growing and decided to add an actual server to hold our information, and host our email. When I upgraded all the computers from XP Home to Pro, only two of the machines (out of 6) cannot see the server or the domain. None of the other machines have this problem. Now the really strange thing is, one the two that is having problems, came with XP Pro. No upgrade was required. I figured this one would have been the easiest to configure.

We are running SBS2003.

Thanks.

 

[snootalope]

can you ping your domain controller from the xp machine's? if so, try and ping the domain controller by it's name, eg: domaincontroller.domain.com

the ping will tell you if it's your NIC or not.

 

[trussman]

I tried to ping these two machines from my computer, and got no reply. I can ping the other machines on our network, including the server.

 

[snootalope]

it's something with the network setting then.. could be a dead card. are you using dhcp? Does it get an address ok?

May even be the patch cables. doubtful, but possible. What about the switch they plug into? Any different port configurations on there?

I'd start by testing the card via dhcp and making sure it gets an address.

 

[trussman]

They both have static addresses. I was thinking about something, what about firewall? Would that prevent them from seeing the domain and getting pinged?

 

[Cstorms]

I think it uses RPC for communication between client and domain requests, and icmp is almost always disabled by default in firewall software. However unlike XP, Win2k3 does not have an in place firewall by default, so this would be something that is in between your machines and your servers if it is indeed the problem.

This still sounds like a dns problem on the client side if you cant ping them with these machines but can ping it with the others, and I am assuming all machines are in the same site.

If you have all the same settings within this NIC as you do with the rest of the working clients it could be a faulty NIC but these rarely just go bad, give a new card a try, maybe also take the box to a port that a working client machine is on and try it from there.

Let us know.


Cory

 

[trussman]

Acutally I did turn off the firewall in Norton, and both computers were to be pinged, and they saw the domain.

Now the other problem I have is one will not connect to the domain. It says that the 'Company' domain is not available. Now this is not true since the other 5-6 computers are connected to the network.