No Windows NT or Windows 2000 Domain Controller is available

  • Thread starter Thread starter Timothy Ross
  • Start date Start date
T

Timothy Ross

I have a VERY strange problem:

There is one particular machine in my company that for whatever reason can
not "find" the domain (we are running an NT 4.0 domain).

I can add the machine to the domain (Welcome to the "MyDomain" Domain).

I can remove it from the domain (change it to "workgroup" workgroup). Then
re-add the machine with no problems.

BUT: whenever I login from a "cold boot", my system event log shows: "No
Windows NT or Windows 2000 Domain Controller is available for domain
MyDomain. The following error occurred: There are currently no logon
servers available to service the logon request."

Yet, I can print and see other machines in the domain (via My Network
Places).

Even Stranger: When I have an unsuccessful login (because it couldn't
"find" the domain), I can log-off, then relogin -- it then finds the domain
(Note: if I restart the machine or shut it down, the problem still exists).

This is what I have done so far:
Installed a fresh copy of Windows 2000.
Changed NICs
Changed NIC manufacture (since the two 3Com cards had the same problem, I
tried an SMC card).
Changed the slot where the NIC is located.

Any suggestions???

As a side note: because of all of these problems, I formatted an older
machine -- installed Windows 2000 fresh -- was able to logon to the domain
without any problems (this leads me to believe that it is not my PDC that is
the problem -- I hope that it has nothing to do with my PDC!!!).

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have,

TR
 
Do all W2K/XP's have the ms03-039 installed? Does the ipconfig/all show that
everything is pointing to the server-IP? How many nics in the server?
 
I've had the same problem with some NT machines. We got
around it by putting a #pre entry in the lmhosts file for
the domain. The instructions are in the file, here's the
line I'm referring to:
# 102.54.94.97 mydomain #PRE #DOM:networking #net
group's DC

It might be something with the speed of the newer computer
and the way the services load in the newer computer. Also,
it might have something to do with your network. For
example, if the PC is directly connected to a Cisco switch
and portfast is not enabled on that port, it will take
about a minute for the port to come up before it starts
forwarding data through the port, once you boot up your
computer. By that time the OS has decided it can't find
the domain controller. This timing may not have be an
issue with an older machine. Just a thought.
 
Marina,

Thank you for your post.

1. This Windows 2000 server has been patched (all critical updates and
recommended updates). I am not exactly sure what "ms03-039 installed" is.

2. I have assigned a static ip address. For troubleshooting purposes, I
temporarily used DHCP -- a release and refresh obtained an IP address
without issue.

3. This is only one NIC (not multihomed).
 
Thank you for your post.

This problem has truely stumped me -- This is the only machine that is
unable to find the domain (yet a logout and login will find the domain).

TR
 
Hi Timothy,

The ms03-039 patch is hotfix 824146 which prevents getting the Blast worm.
 
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