What the heck am I doing wrong?! (DNS/DHCP)

[ivwshane]

Here's my setup;
5 computers
2 win2k servers, one is a DHCP/DNS with AD the other is a ftp/web server (both are set to static IP's).
1 winXP client (dynamic IP)
1 win2k client (dynamic IP)
1 linux red hat 7.2 client (dynamic IP)

I have created my own private domain, ivwshane.com
The servers can all communicate just fine with each other and connect to the internet and the linux box connects to the internet just fine also (I'm guessing an old configuration is still in use).
So my problem is that I can not get the win2k machine to join the domain for the life of me. For some reason it refuses to get a dynamic IP, instead it get a private address IP. When I try to join it with the domain it gets a "cannot find domain" error message (of course it does it doesn't have a proper IP). And the winXP will not connect to the internet but it can ping the servers by name and IP. So I'm guessing that my problem lies somewhere with my DNS setup and has something to do with not forwarding unresolved IP's and host's. What am doing wrong and what do I need to do in DNS to forward unresolved IP's? Once I get that should my client then be able to connect to the internet? And what the hell is going on with my win2kmachine?

I ran IPconfig/all on the win2k machine and this is what it gives me;

Host Name....:superclient
primary DNS suffix....: (even if I try to specify one nothing happens)
node type..........:broadcast
IP routing enabled............:no
Wins Proxy enabled..........:no


connection-specific DNS suffix..:
description....:blah blah blah
physical address...:blahblah
DHCP enabled........:yes
autoconfiguration enabled.......:yes
autoconfiguration IP address......:192.254.30.58
subnet mask........:255.255.0.0
default gateway.......:
DNS servers........:


So what could I possibly be doing wrong?

 

[Bunch]

If the XP and Linux boxes pick up the DHCP information I would think that the problem lies with the NIC on the w2K machine. Did you try releasing and renewing (propably did but I thought I would list it)? Try swapping a NIC from another PC or use an extra NIC if you have one. You could try removing the NIC from the PC and reinstalling the drivers. Or see if the NIC has any sort of jumper to reset itself.
I would also create a computer account on the AD server for the W2K PC ahead of time rather than adding it from the client when joining the domain. This works better for me sometimes when a PC just won't connect.

 

[ivwshane]

Sorry I edited my post so it's different from when you first read it. Believe me though I've tried all that, I've swapped two other nics in, changed the cable, created an account for the computer and nothing works.

 

[MulLa]

So your problem is that you can't join the domain right? Have you tried manually assigning the IP address of the DNS server to your client first and then join the domain? After you have done that then reconfigure it to obtain addresses from your DHCP server.

 

[Jonathan93]

If the Win 2k box is having REAL connectivity problems between it and the DHCP server, you should be getting a 169.XXX.XXX.XXX address. Either A) you have 2 DHCP servers on 1 network or B) you have misconfigured your DHCP server, if you are getting the wrong block of IPs. If the Win 2k returns a "DHCP server" when you run Ipconfig you can look up the MAC address on the box (So you know who is actually causing this problem) by typing Arp -a (Or at least with Win98) it will show you the MAC addresses for all the ARP entries in the ARP table (If you ping the Host some, it should show up in the ARP table). You really need to track down and figure out why the win 2k box is getting the wrong IP address. (Also, Assigning a Static IP to the box would probably work, but I think you should find your problems first).

About the XP box, when you type ipconfig, what does it show? (Please show everything.... You can omit your IPs, but please verify that the default gateway IS in the same subnet as its current IP address)

 

[ivwshane]

Thanks.
Yeah if I set the win2k machine to DHCP then I get the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx address. As for the winXP box, I feel pretty stupid because it doesn't even have a default gaeway and I've been studying this long enough that I should know how to fix it And the subnet mask is the same as the servers, 255.255.255.0



Even after assigning the win2k box an IP and specifying a default gateway and dns server it still can't ping the servers by name or IP.

 

[ivwshane]

OK I've fixed the winXP machine. Under the scope options, while trying to figure out what was going on, I deleted some of the server/scope options including one for the default gateway (my router) and teh DNS server (the IP of the DHCP server). However the win2k box still refuses to get an IP from the DHCP sever and is still giving itself the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx number.

 

[ivwshane]

Ok I fixed the win2k machine and it truns out some how I have a bad port on my linksys router. So that kinda pisses me off, if I knew that it probably would have taken me half the time to figure the problem out. I'm also sure that was what was causing some of my earlier problems (it's in a different post).

Then the next crappy thing that happened was that for some reason when I tried to join my domain it wouldn't let me specify my domain as "ivwshane.com", no instead I had to specify it with out the ".com", why that is I have no idea (if you know please enlighten me).

So all is well and I learned several valuable lessons;

Don't doubt my abilities or skills because when I do I screw things up even more.
The first thing you should check when you get unexplained errors is hardware and that includes everything from cables to routers.
And in the long run it's best to stay up late and make mistakes and figure things out at home rather than in a more critical envirornment.