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Can't find DC !!!

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by whatme? 2 views

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I have a DC at site 3 which went offline for some reason. I rebooted it but it can't find or bind to a DC. NTFRS went offline since it ca't rteplicate with the other DCs. I get a 1000 usr error saying no DC to log onto. Active Directory can't be reached on this dc. I checked microsoft site but it said take server or workstation off domain and join again but this is a dc and if it can't replicate it sure won't depromote itself.
I can open my network places and see and open other workstations.

Any ideas?

24 replies

by w2ktechman

try removing it from the domain and re-adding it. This may take care of the problem. To do this it will be successful if you change it to a workgroup of the same name as the domain, then change it back after adding the computer account

by whatme?

OK.... bit the bullet and tried removing from domain via dcpromo... It failed since it couldn't authenticate to DC1 across the network. I was worried about this all along.
Read other answers

by whatme?

Answer 1... I would normally try this but this is a DC w/global catalogue etc. If I demote this, or try to, I think the operation will fail...since it can't authenticate to any of the other DCs, then my problem will be worse than it is now.

by jeaster

What happens if you make another machine a global catalog, so that you can find the rest of the domain...?

by whatme?

To answer 2: Problem is. this DC is at a remote location 1500 miles away. No other servers to do this. What I have to do is over our network. I have narrowed down the problem... I think to an IPsec issue. I have disabled ipsec on the main dc but the remote dc is still trying to use an ipsec policy that is not there anymore. I can't disable ipsec on this remote dc since it was issued through group policy off DC1

by navjun

make sure you have the right DNS setting and if you have more than one DNS server make sure the one that you think works better is on top of the list, also check your Dns server to see if it working orderly and your server is in it data base , if not add it manullay. also make sure your nic is good (it happended to me)

Good luck

by whatme?

Yes, DNS is working fine. I have all our dcs in it. I can nslookup each name server

by navjun

make sure you have the right DNS setting and if you have more than one DNS server make sure the one that you think works better is on top of the list, also check your Dns server to see if it working orderly and your server is in it data base , if not add it manullay. also make sure your nic is good (it happended to me)

Good luck

by whatme?

This is starting to get exiting....
DNS is working properly... end. As stated after question 2. I have narrowed it down ( or I think I have) to an IPSEC issue. For some reason DC3 went offline. When it came back on it did not authenticate to the main DC1. I "think" I have to somehow delete any referebce to use IPSEC...but it is greyed out in TCP/IP. I can use Ipsec configuartion and analysis but it is denied... since the main DC initiated the policy. All DCs worked except this one. I need to over ride the DC policy and enforce a local policy....I think... man is this confusing sometimes...

by voldar

Hi there. As I understand you can access your DC by remote control, don't you? As you describe the problems you have, tells me that the your AD on that DC are corrupted somehow. The only thing you have to do is to try to restore the AD. The problem is that you can't do that by remote control. Sorry for the news.

by whatme?

As it turned from anser 6... I can do a remote. It worked quite well. I actually went ahead and did a restore of system state. After restarting, it failed...still to contact the other DCs and active directory is still unavailable locally.

by whatme?

Answer 5: Don't think I want to try that yet. I would have to travel over there to do that.... no one elase around. There has to be a better option.. and that is what I am looking for.... that slim option that will work.

by whatme?

Tried this, and thought maybe I was on to something here but not. Restore worked ok but failed to connect to my main domain to update AD. I then tried DCPROMO and tried a demotion but it failed again since I can't authenticate to domain. Stupid thing is I can open network neighborhood and open any workstation and open shared folders without being asked for user creds.

by pcnetworktech

Take a look at the services, make sure the Remote procedure call (RPC) service are running. You might also want check the DNS Server service and the rest of the services.

by whatme?

Sorry... very first thing I checked All necessary services..DNS,DHCP RPC working ok.
in event viewer in applications I get a 1000 user error. Windows cannot determine user or computer name
in File Replication service... error 13562... could not bind to a DC
In services error 5719... no NT or DC availabale for domain xxx
currently no logon servrs to serve request.

These all arise out of not being able to contact other DCs and replicate and clocal cached copy is kaput I suspect.

by carlos.nino

I know this is going to sound stupid but, why don't you try to have someone install something like PC_Anywhere for you in the remote machine, and you do the same in the one you can manage. That way it would be like managing the remote computer with your own hands (you can take full control of the machine). It's not expensive and saves you lots of cash in plane tickets.

by whatme?

I use terminal services now plus I also have Remote Admin already installed. So far I have done everything over the network including what you already sugested pointing me to remote boot the machine into safe mode for a restore.

by voldar

Okay, sorry for being so late, but have u checked ur DNS? Troubleshooting it? You can check it by nslookup and then test it using a recursive check. Maybe there is the problem - a wrong IP, a firewall rule that changed and let u no more access the replication partners.

by whatme?

As stated above...DNS is the first thing, connectivity etc.
Finally rebuilt another DC and sent it to site

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