Can't find DC

I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and some
applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations loses
communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not the same time, and
not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried disconnecting the
mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find the DC to
verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the DC.
Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???

Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
Win XP, sp2 fully patched

And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is doing this.
He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in several
different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and complains that
it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And I'm the guy
who has to listen to it.

-- Carlos --

Hi,

few questions and things to look at.

If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is DNS set up
on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is going on in
Event log (specially in System and Application logs). You should also check
the logs on domain controller.

--
Mike
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security

"CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
> workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and some
> applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations loses
> communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not the same time,
> and
> not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried disconnecting the
> mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find the DC to
> verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the DC.
> Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
>
> Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
> Win XP, sp2 fully patched
>
> And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is doing
> this.
> He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in several
> different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and complains
> that
> it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And I'm the
> guy
> who has to listen to it.
>
> -- Carlos --
>
>

Check the nic card setting for speed and make sure they match those of the
switch the pc is plugged into. Manually set and don't leave at 'auto'. So
that would be 100mb full duplex or 100mb half duplex, etc for both switch
port and nic.

Reason I recommend this is what you describe is intermittent network
failure. When autonegociate between the nic and switch doesn't work quite
right there are crc errors generated which require packet resends and/or loss
of network connectivity.

If its a managed switch you can look at the port stats to verify these errors.

Thanks Miha,

Yes it is a member of a Win2000 domain
PC gets DNS from DHCP; it points to our ISP's DNS servers.

Event log entries follow:

In the Server System Event Log

Source: NETLOGON
Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records
failed because no DNS servers are available.

In the Workstation System Event Log

Source: NETLOGON
No Domain Controller is available for domain FLATPLATE due to the
following:
There are currently no logon servers available to service the
logon request. .
Make sure that the computer is connected to the network and try
again. If the problem persists, please contact your domain
administrator.

I also took Joshua's advice and switched the NIC from Auto to 100/full
duplex so as not to get tripped up over the negotiation.

I hope these log entries mean more to you than they do to me.

Thanks,
-- Carlos --

"Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> few questions and things to look at.
>
> If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is DNS set
up
> on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
> Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is going on
in
> Event log (specially in System and Application logs). You should also
check
> the logs on domain controller.
>
> --
> Mike
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>
> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
> > workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and some
> > applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations loses
> > communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not the same time,
> > and
> > not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried disconnecting the
> > mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find the DC to
> > verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the DC.
> > Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
> >
> > Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
> > Win XP, sp2 fully patched
> >
> > And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is doing
> > this.
> > He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in several
> > different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and complains
> > that
> > it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And I'm the
> > guy
> > who has to listen to it.
> >
> > -- Carlos --
> >
> >
>
>

Thanks Josh,

The switch is not managed. I did change the NIC on the PC to 100mb/full
duplex to avoid negotiation. Maybe that will do the trick. See also my
response to Miha, above.

Thanks,

-- Carlos --

"Joshua Bolton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2462BFA9-8BF8-48DE-8A69-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Check the nic card setting for speed and make sure they match those of the
> switch the pc is plugged into. Manually set and don't leave at 'auto'.
So
> that would be 100mb full duplex or 100mb half duplex, etc for both switch
> port and nic.
>
> Reason I recommend this is what you describe is intermittent network
> failure. When autonegociate between the nic and switch doesn't work quite
> right there are crc errors generated which require packet resends and/or
loss
> of network connectivity.
>
> If its a managed switch you can look at the port stats to verify these
errors.

OK. Here is the problem. Client should _not_ point to your ISP DNS but to
your Active Directory DNS which is usually your Active Directory server.

Clients use DNS to locate your Active Directory and other services in
domain. If you point your clients to your ISP they will fail to find domain
controllers since your ISP's DNS servers don't know anything about your
internal domain.

What you should do is point all your clients, servers (even domain
controllers) to Active Directory DNS. Once you do this, configure DNS
forwarders on your Active Directory DNS server to point to your ISP (you do
this in DNS MMC on DNS server). This will enable your clients to resolve
internet addresses.

So the requests would go like this. If your internal DNS name is domain.com
then any request for "domain.com" would go to your internal DNS server and
no further since the server knows "everything" about "domain.com". If the
client need to go to e.g. www.google.com it passes the request to Active
Directory DNS and since it doesn't know anything about google.com it will
pass on the request to your ISP. Once it gets the response back it will
forward it to the client.

I hope this helps,

--
Mike
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security


"CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thanks Miha,
>
> Yes it is a member of a Win2000 domain
> PC gets DNS from DHCP; it points to our ISP's DNS servers.
>
> Event log entries follow:
>
> In the Server System Event Log
>
> Source: NETLOGON
> Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records
> failed because no DNS servers are available.
>
> In the Workstation System Event Log
>
> Source: NETLOGON
> No Domain Controller is available for domain FLATPLATE due to the
> following:
> There are currently no logon servers available to service the
> logon request. .
> Make sure that the computer is connected to the network and try
> again. If the problem persists, please contact your domain
> administrator.
>
> I also took Joshua's advice and switched the NIC from Auto to 100/full
> duplex so as not to get tripped up over the negotiation.
>
> I hope these log entries mean more to you than they do to me.
>
> Thanks,
> -- Carlos --
>
> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi,
>>
>> few questions and things to look at.
>>
>> If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is DNS set
> up
>> on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
>> Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is going on
> in
>> Event log (specially in System and Application logs). You should also
> check
>> the logs on domain controller.
>>
>> --
>> Mike
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>
>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
>> > workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and some
>> > applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations loses
>> > communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not the same
>> > time,
>> > and
>> > not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried disconnecting
>> > the
>> > mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find the DC
>> > to
>> > verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the DC.
>> > Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
>> >
>> > Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
>> > Win XP, sp2 fully patched
>> >
>> > And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is doing
>> > this.
>> > He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in
>> > several
>> > different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and complains
>> > that
>> > it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And I'm the
>> > guy
>> > who has to listen to it.
>> >
>> > -- Carlos --
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

Thanks again Mike,

When I go to the DNS server and look at the "forwarders" tab, things are
greyed out and it says "Forwarders are not available because this is a root
server". What now?

The DHCP server is giving out the same DNS servers to all clients. Why are
other workstations not experiencing the same problem?

thanks,

-- Carlos --


"Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> OK. Here is the problem. Client should _not_ point to your ISP DNS but to
> your Active Directory DNS which is usually your Active Directory server.
>
> Clients use DNS to locate your Active Directory and other services in
> domain. If you point your clients to your ISP they will fail to find
> domain controllers since your ISP's DNS servers don't know anything about
> your internal domain.
>
> What you should do is point all your clients, servers (even domain
> controllers) to Active Directory DNS. Once you do this, configure DNS
> forwarders on your Active Directory DNS server to point to your ISP (you
> do this in DNS MMC on DNS server). This will enable your clients to
> resolve internet addresses.
>
> So the requests would go like this. If your internal DNS name is
> domain.com then any request for "domain.com" would go to your internal DNS
> server and no further since the server knows "everything" about
> "domain.com". If the client need to go to e.g. www.google.com it passes
> the request to Active Directory DNS and since it doesn't know anything
> about google.com it will pass on the request to your ISP. Once it gets the
> response back it will forward it to the client.
>
> I hope this helps,
>
> --
> Mike
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>
>
> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Thanks Miha,
>>
>> Yes it is a member of a Win2000 domain
>> PC gets DNS from DHCP; it points to our ISP's DNS servers.
>>
>> Event log entries follow:
>>
>> In the Server System Event Log
>>
>> Source: NETLOGON
>> Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records
>> failed because no DNS servers are available.
>>
>> In the Workstation System Event Log
>>
>> Source: NETLOGON
>> No Domain Controller is available for domain FLATPLATE due to the
>> following:
>> There are currently no logon servers available to service the
>> logon request. .
>> Make sure that the computer is connected to the network and try
>> again. If the problem persists, please contact your domain
>> administrator.
>>
>> I also took Joshua's advice and switched the NIC from Auto to 100/full
>> duplex so as not to get tripped up over the negotiation.
>>
>> I hope these log entries mean more to you than they do to me.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -- Carlos --
>>
>> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> few questions and things to look at.
>>>
>>> If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is DNS set
>> up
>>> on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
>>> Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is going on
>> in
>>> Event log (specially in System and Application logs). You should also
>> check
>>> the logs on domain controller.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Mike
>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>>
>>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> >I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
>>> > workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and some
>>> > applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations loses
>>> > communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not the same
>>> > time,
>>> > and
>>> > not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried disconnecting
>>> > the
>>> > mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find the DC
>>> > to
>>> > verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the DC.
>>> > Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
>>> >
>>> > Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
>>> > Win XP, sp2 fully patched
>>> >
>>> > And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is doing
>>> > this.
>>> > He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in
>>> > several
>>> > different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and
>>> > complains
>>> > that
>>> > it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And I'm
>>> > the
>>> > guy
>>> > who has to listen to it.
>>> >
>>> > -- Carlos --
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

Simply delete the dot at the top of the tree. While the dot is there,
the DNS is a root server and thinks it is the centre of the universe! It
won't forward to a higher authority.

Carlos Antenna wrote:
> Thanks again Mike,
>
> When I go to the DNS server and look at the "forwarders" tab, things
> are greyed out and it says "Forwarders are not available because this
> is a root server". What now?
>
> The DHCP server is giving out the same DNS servers to all clients. Why are
> other workstations not experiencing the same problem?
>
> thanks,
>
> -- Carlos --
>
>
> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> OK. Here is the problem. Client should _not_ point to your ISP DNS
>> but to your Active Directory DNS which is usually your Active
>> Directory server. Clients use DNS to locate your Active Directory and
>> other services in
>> domain. If you point your clients to your ISP they will fail to find
>> domain controllers since your ISP's DNS servers don't know anything
>> about your internal domain.
>>
>> What you should do is point all your clients, servers (even domain
>> controllers) to Active Directory DNS. Once you do this, configure DNS
>> forwarders on your Active Directory DNS server to point to your ISP
>> (you do this in DNS MMC on DNS server). This will enable your
>> clients to resolve internet addresses.
>>
>> So the requests would go like this. If your internal DNS name is
>> domain.com then any request for "domain.com" would go to your
>> internal DNS server and no further since the server knows
>> "everything" about "domain.com". If the client need to go to e.g.
>> www.google.com it passes the request to Active Directory DNS and
>> since it doesn't know anything about google.com it will pass on the
>> request to your ISP. Once it gets the response back it will forward
>> it to the client. I hope this helps,
>>
>> --
>> Mike
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>
>>
>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Thanks Miha,
>>>
>>> Yes it is a member of a Win2000 domain
>>> PC gets DNS from DHCP; it points to our ISP's DNS servers.
>>>
>>> Event log entries follow:
>>>
>>> In the Server System Event Log
>>>
>>> Source: NETLOGON
>>> Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records
>>> failed because no DNS servers are available.
>>>
>>> In the Workstation System Event Log
>>>
>>> Source: NETLOGON
>>> No Domain Controller is available for domain FLATPLATE due to the
>>> following:
>>> There are currently no logon servers available to service the
>>> logon request. .
>>> Make sure that the computer is connected to the network and try
>>> again. If the problem persists, please contact your domain
>>> administrator.
>>>
>>> I also took Joshua's advice and switched the NIC from Auto to
>>> 100/full duplex so as not to get tripped up over the negotiation.
>>>
>>> I hope these log entries mean more to you than they do to me.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> -- Carlos --
>>>
>>> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> few questions and things to look at.
>>>>
>>>> If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is
>>>> DNS set up on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
>>>> Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is
>>>> going on in Event log (specially in System and Application logs).
>>>> You should also check the logs on domain controller.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Mike
>>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>>>
>>>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>> news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>> I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
>>>>> workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and
>>>>> some applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations
>>>>> loses communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not
>>>>> the same time,
>>>>> and
>>>>> not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried
>>>>> disconnecting the
>>>>> mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find
>>>>> the DC to
>>>>> verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the
>>>>> DC. Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
>>>>>
>>>>> Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
>>>>> Win XP, sp2 fully patched
>>>>>
>>>>> And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is
>>>>> doing this.
>>>>> He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in
>>>>> several
>>>>> different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and
>>>>> complains
>>>>> that
>>>>> it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And
>>>>> I'm the
>>>>> guy
>>>>> who has to listen to it.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Carlos --

Thanks Bill,

The dot was under "forward lookup zones". I deleted it, but it still thinks
it's a root server.

I restarted the service and nothing changed. Will I also need to reboot the
server?

-- Carlos --

"Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Simply delete the dot at the top of the tree. While the dot is there,
> the DNS is a root server and thinks it is the centre of the universe! It
> won't forward to a higher authority.
>
> Carlos Antenna wrote:
>> Thanks again Mike,
>>
>> When I go to the DNS server and look at the "forwarders" tab, things
>> are greyed out and it says "Forwarders are not available because this
>> is a root server". What now?
>>
>> The DHCP server is giving out the same DNS servers to all clients. Why
>> are other workstations not experiencing the same problem?
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>> -- Carlos --
>>
>>
>> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> OK. Here is the problem. Client should _not_ point to your ISP DNS
>>> but to your Active Directory DNS which is usually your Active
>>> Directory server. Clients use DNS to locate your Active Directory and
>>> other services in
>>> domain. If you point your clients to your ISP they will fail to find
>>> domain controllers since your ISP's DNS servers don't know anything
>>> about your internal domain.
>>>
>>> What you should do is point all your clients, servers (even domain
>>> controllers) to Active Directory DNS. Once you do this, configure DNS
>>> forwarders on your Active Directory DNS server to point to your ISP
>>> (you do this in DNS MMC on DNS server). This will enable your
>>> clients to resolve internet addresses.
>>>
>>> So the requests would go like this. If your internal DNS name is
>>> domain.com then any request for "domain.com" would go to your
>>> internal DNS server and no further since the server knows
>>> "everything" about "domain.com". If the client need to go to e.g.
>>> www.google.com it passes the request to Active Directory DNS and
>>> since it doesn't know anything about google.com it will pass on the
>>> request to your ISP. Once it gets the response back it will forward
>>> it to the client. I hope this helps,
>>>
>>> --
>>> Mike
>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>>
>>>
>>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> Thanks Miha,
>>>>
>>>> Yes it is a member of a Win2000 domain
>>>> PC gets DNS from DHCP; it points to our ISP's DNS servers.
>>>>
>>>> Event log entries follow:
>>>>
>>>> In the Server System Event Log
>>>>
>>>> Source: NETLOGON
>>>> Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records
>>>> failed because no DNS servers are available.
>>>>
>>>> In the Workstation System Event Log
>>>>
>>>> Source: NETLOGON
>>>> No Domain Controller is available for domain FLATPLATE due to the
>>>> following:
>>>> There are currently no logon servers available to service the
>>>> logon request. .
>>>> Make sure that the computer is connected to the network and try
>>>> again. If the problem persists, please contact your domain
>>>> administrator.
>>>>
>>>> I also took Joshua's advice and switched the NIC from Auto to
>>>> 100/full duplex so as not to get tripped up over the negotiation.
>>>>
>>>> I hope these log entries mean more to you than they do to me.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> -- Carlos --
>>>>
>>>> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> few questions and things to look at.
>>>>>
>>>>> If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is
>>>>> DNS set up on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
>>>>> Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is
>>>>> going on in Event log (specially in System and Application logs).
>>>>> You should also check the logs on domain controller.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Mike
>>>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>>>>
>>>>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>>> news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>>> I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
>>>>>> workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and
>>>>>> some applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations
>>>>>> loses communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not
>>>>>> the same time,
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried
>>>>>> disconnecting the
>>>>>> mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find
>>>>>> the DC to
>>>>>> verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the
>>>>>> DC. Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
>>>>>> Win XP, sp2 fully patched
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is
>>>>>> doing this.
>>>>>> He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in
>>>>>> several
>>>>>> different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and
>>>>>> complains
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And
>>>>>> I'm the
>>>>>> guy
>>>>>> who has to listen to it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- Carlos --
>
>

Reboot the server.

--
Todd J Heron, MCSE
Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights

"Carlos Antenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
Thanks Bill,

The dot was under "forward lookup zones". I deleted it, but it still thinks
it's a root server.

I restarted the service and nothing changed. Will I also need to reboot the
server?

-- Carlos --

"Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Simply delete the dot at the top of the tree. While the dot is there,
> the DNS is a root server and thinks it is the centre of the universe! It
> won't forward to a higher authority.
>
> Carlos Antenna wrote:
>> Thanks again Mike,
>>
>> When I go to the DNS server and look at the "forwarders" tab, things
>> are greyed out and it says "Forwarders are not available because this
>> is a root server". What now?
>>
>> The DHCP server is giving out the same DNS servers to all clients. Why
>> are other workstations not experiencing the same problem?
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>> -- Carlos --
>>
>>
>> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> OK. Here is the problem. Client should _not_ point to your ISP DNS
>>> but to your Active Directory DNS which is usually your Active
>>> Directory server. Clients use DNS to locate your Active Directory and
>>> other services in
>>> domain. If you point your clients to your ISP they will fail to find
>>> domain controllers since your ISP's DNS servers don't know anything
>>> about your internal domain.
>>>
>>> What you should do is point all your clients, servers (even domain
>>> controllers) to Active Directory DNS. Once you do this, configure DNS
>>> forwarders on your Active Directory DNS server to point to your ISP
>>> (you do this in DNS MMC on DNS server). This will enable your
>>> clients to resolve internet addresses.
>>>
>>> So the requests would go like this. If your internal DNS name is
>>> domain.com then any request for "domain.com" would go to your
>>> internal DNS server and no further since the server knows
>>> "everything" about "domain.com". If the client need to go to e.g.
>>> www.google.com it passes the request to Active Directory DNS and
>>> since it doesn't know anything about google.com it will pass on the
>>> request to your ISP. Once it gets the response back it will forward
>>> it to the client. I hope this helps,
>>>
>>> --
>>> Mike
>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>>
>>>
>>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> Thanks Miha,
>>>>
>>>> Yes it is a member of a Win2000 domain
>>>> PC gets DNS from DHCP; it points to our ISP's DNS servers.
>>>>
>>>> Event log entries follow:
>>>>
>>>> In the Server System Event Log
>>>>
>>>> Source: NETLOGON
>>>> Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records
>>>> failed because no DNS servers are available.
>>>>
>>>> In the Workstation System Event Log
>>>>
>>>> Source: NETLOGON
>>>> No Domain Controller is available for domain FLATPLATE due to the
>>>> following:
>>>> There are currently no logon servers available to service the
>>>> logon request. .
>>>> Make sure that the computer is connected to the network and try
>>>> again. If the problem persists, please contact your domain
>>>> administrator.
>>>>
>>>> I also took Joshua's advice and switched the NIC from Auto to
>>>> 100/full duplex so as not to get tripped up over the negotiation.
>>>>
>>>> I hope these log entries mean more to you than they do to me.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> -- Carlos --
>>>>
>>>> "Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> few questions and things to look at.
>>>>>
>>>>> If I understand this PC is member of Windows 2000 domain? How is
>>>>> DNS set up on client PC? Where does DNS point to?
>>>>> Are there any errors or other events that might explain what is
>>>>> going on in Event log (specially in System and Application logs).
>>>>> You should also check the logs on domain controller.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Mike
>>>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
>>>>>
>>>>> "CarlosAntenna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>>> news:euZrd$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>>> I have a network with only one server and about 25 workstations. All
>>>>>> workstations connect to a shared network drive for data and
>>>>>> some applications (drive S. One of the newest workstations
>>>>>> loses communication with the S: drive nearly every day, but not
>>>>>> the same time,
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> not tied to any event that can be replicated. I tried
>>>>>> disconnecting the
>>>>>> mapped S: drive and then reconnecting. It says it cannot find
>>>>>> the DC to
>>>>>> verify my login to the S: drive. But, I can PING the IP of the
>>>>>> DC. Rebooting the PC is the only fix. What is causing this???
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Win 2000 Server, sp4 fully patched
>>>>>> Win XP, sp2 fully patched
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And wouldn't you know it... It's the president's machine that is
>>>>>> doing this.
>>>>>> He leaves everything open on his desktop. Multiple documents in
>>>>>> several
>>>>>> different applications. When he has to reboot, he whines and
>>>>>> complains
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> it is going to take him hours to get back to where he was. And
>>>>>> I'm the
>>>>>> guy
>>>>>> who has to listen to it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- Carlos --
>
>