terrible problem with Win2k workstation and NT4 PDC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob

After involving a bunch of people and 30 hours on this, I am now writing
this message from a fresh install of Windows XP on a new hard drive. No
matter what we did, we could NOT get my Win2k machine to rejoin the domain,
it kept saying that it could not contact the (NT4) domain controller. All
other machines could see the PDC, and the PDC could see everyone else. But
my machine was somehow different. One day I could not browse (or even ping)
the PDC, and it could not see me, either. So I removed my computer from the
domain on both sides, waited, added it back... and the machine has never
been able to rejoin since. And - get this - I have an alternate Win2000 boot
with nothing installed on it, no service packs or anything, with the same
machine name, on the same machine, and it, too, could not join the domain.
However, this XP boot, with the same machine name, on the same machine, same
user account, can.

I have a colleague at another site who says he's seen this type of thing
once before; it blew away two weeks of his time, and he found no soultion.

Someone PLEASE tell me why this happened.

Bob
 
Run IPCONFIG /ALL on the machine and see if it is using the same WINS and
DNS servers as other machines that do work-- and that it is able to ping
those servers.

In fact, check under the Network Connection settings---> TCP/IP -->
advanced --> WINS tab and compare it to other machines. Make sure NETBIOS
over TCP/IP is turned on.

Try using the nbtstat command to troubleshoot this too.
 
Try running netdiag on the W2K computer to see if it reports any failed tests that
may be pertinent and also look in Event Viewer for any info. Netstat -s and "net
statistics workstation" can also give information on networking problems. Could it
ping itself and the PDC by it's name before trying to join the domain and does the
ping return the correct IP address? Did you modify anything in Local Security Policy
or apply any templates? Run nbtstat -c on it to see if the PDC is in the name cache
with an incorrect address that could be a result of a lmhosts file entry. I would
also try replacing the nic with a known good one. I suppose it is possible a
defective nic would run flaky with W2K drivers, but work OK with XP drivers - I have
seen nics do a lot of strange things. I have also seen hardware problems such as
overheating CPU, flaky ram, PCI slot choice, and flaky power supply cause networking
problems. Beyond that a packet level analysis might help trying to watch the packet
exchange between the computer and the domain controller. The server has Netmon built
in, while you would need to use something like Ethereal on the W2K box. --- Steve
 
Hi Bob,

Thank you for posting.

I suggest you rename the computer in the current workgroup. Then, rejoin
the domain with an administrator account.

Please also capture a screen shot of the error so that I can understand the
issue clearly.

To capture a screen shot, please follow the steps below:

Step 1: When the error message appears, press the Pr Scrn key located at
the
top-right corner of the keyboard to capture a screen shot.

Step 2: Click Start, select Run, type MSPAINT in the Open box, and then
click OK.

Step 3: Use Ctrl + V to paste the screen shot to the canvas. When we are
prompted
to enlarge the bitmap, press Y or Enter.

Step 4: Click the File (or press Alt+ F) menu and select Save.

Step 5: Select Desktop in the 'Save in' box and type 'screen' in the File
name
box.

Step 6: Select JPEG in the Save as type box and click OK.

The screen shot is located on the Desktop and named screen.jpg.

I am looking forward to your reply!

Sincerely,
Jack Wang, MCSE 2000, MCSA, MCDBA, MCSD
Microsoft Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

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--------------------
| From: "Bob" <[email protected]>
| Subject: terrible problem with Win2k workstation and NT4 PDC
| Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 19:26:46 -0500
| Lines: 21
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| Xref: cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl microsoft.public.win2000.networking:57286
| X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.win2000.networking
|
| After involving a bunch of people and 30 hours on this, I am now writing
| this message from a fresh install of Windows XP on a new hard drive. No
| matter what we did, we could NOT get my Win2k machine to rejoin the
domain,
| it kept saying that it could not contact the (NT4) domain controller. All
| other machines could see the PDC, and the PDC could see everyone else. But
| my machine was somehow different. One day I could not browse (or even
ping)
| the PDC, and it could not see me, either. So I removed my computer from
the
| domain on both sides, waited, added it back... and the machine has never
| been able to rejoin since. And - get this - I have an alternate Win2000
boot
| with nothing installed on it, no service packs or anything, with the same
| machine name, on the same machine, and it, too, could not join the domain.
| However, this XP boot, with the same machine name, on the same machine,
same
| user account, can.
|
| I have a colleague at another site who says he's seen this type of thing
| once before; it blew away two weeks of his time, and he found no soultion.
|
| Someone PLEASE tell me why this happened.
|
| Bob
|
|
 
Thanks for all of your replies. In response:

At the end of this message is some info from the problem machine.

I cannot find nbstat anywhere, either on my local machine or the sesrver.

IPCONFIG /ALL and network connection settings reveals that my machine is set
up identically to all the others. NETBIOS is enabled. I can ping, by name,
all the other machines on the network. Right now I can ping, by ip address,
the PDC. I still cannot ping the PDC by name, however, and though I don't
know what it is, I believe the cause of this is the heart of the problem. I
checked HOSTS file and made sure there weren't any bad entries; there were
no entries except for the localhost loopback address.

I already replaced the nic. I also tried another CAT5 cable and plugged it
into a different location.

Attatched is the screenshot of the failure to add the machine to the domain.
I blacked out the domain name. Sorry, Paint would not allow me to save as
JPG.

I look forward to your comments,

Bob

-------------------------------------------------------

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : <munged>
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : CNet PRO200WL PCI Fast Ethernet
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : <munged>
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.126
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.5
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.9
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.100.2
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, March 05, 2004 9:50:56
AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, March 08, 2004 9:50:56
AM


- net statistics workstation

Bytes received 5391
Server Message Blocks (SMBs) received 87
Bytes transmitted 11963
Server Message Blocks (SMBs) transmitted 89
Read operations 0
Write operations 0
Raw reads denied 0
Raw writes denied 0

Network errors 0
Connections made 8
Reconnections made 0
Server disconnects 0

Sessions started 9
Hung sessions 0
Failed sessions 0
Failed operations 6
Use count 16
Failed use count 15
 
lmhosts file is a static equivalent of WINS and resolves the NetBIOS names.
Did you try to reinstall TCP/IP? Is the replacement a different make?
 
I played around with adding the server name and IP address to the lmhosts
file. That allowed me to ping the PDC by name, but had no effect on my
ability to rejoin the domain.

I did reinstall TCP/IP. Then, I reinstalled the last service pack. Then, I
reinstalled Win2K. All to no avail.

The replacement card was the same make. But other Win2K machines have it,
too. In fact, I switched mine with a working machine's. Both had the same
version drivers.


lmhosts file is a static equivalent of WINS and resolves the NetBIOS names.
Did you try to reinstall TCP/IP? Is the replacement a different make?
 
The utility I mentioned was nbtstat and it is on all computers by default. When you
did your lmhosts file the line needs to look like the example below for a domain
controller and it should show up in the netbios name cache when you do nbtstat -c
after nbtstat -R or rebooting. -- Steve

199.199.199.1 ComputerName #PRE #DOM:DomainName
 
I had set up Zone Alarm on my machine quite a while back with some fine-grained
tuning to allow local network communication, before our PDC was changed to a new
IP address. Later I realized that VS.Net had some problems with Zone Alarm, so I
disabled it; I didn't want to uninstall it in case I wanted to use it again.
Well on a hunch I started it up for the first time since god knows when and
added the new PDC address to the list of trusted addresses. Suddenly I was able
to ping it by name and not just by IP address. Then I was able to rejoin the
domain.
 
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