Cisco switches, out of the box, have portfast disabled. What yo can do is
watch the switch when you start up the computer. The port will stay "amber"
until spanning-tree has determined that allowing traffic won't create loop.
If your computer boots up (newer comptuers with XP boot in about 15 seconds)
before the port status light on the switch goes green, that could be an
issue. To fix it, just console into the switch, enter config mode, change to
the interface and issue the command "no span portfast".

....kurt


"Dragon" <baadil_nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uJBGtD5QGHA.5552@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Thank you Kurt for your reply.
>
> I guess these are legit comments. Especially regarding the NIC drivers. We
> currently do not install drivers from HP's website etc but instead install
> them from the Smart Start CD that comes with the servers. If we are using
> ghost, then the same driver goes on all the servers.
>
> I am not too sure about the network switch though. We do use cisco but
> nothing at all is configure on the switches. In most cases not even an IP
> address. Also, I have cutter setup all over and having similar
> issue at multiple locations. This is why I am ruling out bad switch. I do
> however need to look a bit more into the default setup on Cisco switches
> and see if they have anything in them that perhaps is causing.
>
> Thank you.
>
> "Kurt" <lorentzenkurt@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:120v99cs6gfsc51@corp.supernews.com...
>>
>> In reseraching a similar issue I ran across a MS article about W2K3
>> having name resolution / netlogon problems if the NIC driver was wrong. I
>> wish I had the link, but I believe it said that many things would still
>> work (ping, etc) but things that involved certain RPC / DCOM functions
>> would fail. The crux was that you need to update / correct the drivers
>> for the NICs. Another silly thing is if the workstations are plugged into
>> a Cisco switch with spanning-tree taking too long to begin forwarding.
>> "spanning-tree portfast" fixes that one. If not those then you'll need to
>> run general connectivity diagnostics at the workstations to see why they
>> they cannot connect. It could be a hardware problem on a switch - I
>> recently watched a tech change a motherboard on a computer with a
>> connectivity issue, just to discover later that a network switch was
>> flaking out.
>>
>> ...kurt
>>
>>
>>
>> "Dragon" <baadil_nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23JsvmHtQGHA.4536@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>>> Thank you Kurt for your reply. I will try to answer yours questions.
>>> Please note that this is not a single setup. I have these setup located
>>> all over the country and they all are cutter setups. All similar
>>> configuration (different IP/Domains).
>>> First node (ab999NodeA.ab999.mnopq) installed using default from DC
>>> Promo. Domain name is ab999.mnopq.
>>> Ran DCPromo on ab999NodeB to join existing tree/domain.
>>> Installed DNS on ab999NodeB.
>>> As far as I can tell, all replication is happenning fine.
>>> DNS does resolve properly.
>>> All FSMO roles are on ab999NodeA, never moved.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Kurt" <lorentzenkurt@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:120pcn4l7gbln06@corp.supernews.com...
>>>> Can you tell us a bit more about your setup? You say installed "with
>>>> all the standard defaults". Of course if you installed 2 W2K servers
>>>> and selected all of the defaults during a DCPromo, you would have
>>>> created two entirely independent domains rather than a single domain
>>>> with 2 DCs. So....
>>>>
>>>> What is the domain name (you can use a pseudonym if your security
>>>> warrants it?
>>>> Is the second domain controller able to replicate with the 1st? (DNS,
>>>> group policy, Netlogon share, User and Computer accounts, etc?)
>>>> Does DNS resolve the domain name? (nslookup domain.local)
>>>> Are all of the FSMO roles on the first DC, or did you transfer some to
>>>> the other DC?
>>>>
>>>> ...kurt
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Dragon" <baadil_nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:upUAWhWQGHA.2012@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I have the following setup in my lab:
>>>>>
>>>>> 2x Windows 2000 Std Servers running on HP harware
>>>>>
>>>>> Both systems are domain controllers using standard defaults in DCPromo
>>>>> and installing DNS during initial DCPromo. No changes are made to the
>>>>> system except taking default. After DCPromo DNS is installed on the
>>>>> secondary server as well.
>>>>>
>>>>> First server: DNS1 = 2ndServer, DNS2=1stServer
>>>>> Second Server = DNS1 = 1stServer, DNS2=2ndServer
>>>>>
>>>>> Now at times, when I have 2nd server shutdown and restart the 1st
>>>>> server, it is hanging at "Loading Network Configuration" screen.
>>>>> Sometime it may take up to 45 minutes before I see the login. I have
>>>>> tried swapping the DNS entries in the IP properties but I still get
>>>>> the same.
>>>>>
>>>>> My second issue is that I often see clients complaining "unable to
>>>>> find a domain controller" etc. I would think that I might have a
>>>>> network issue but I have the same exact setup at other locations with
>>>>> same issues. Please note that these systems do not connect to any
>>>>> other system or network (no internet either). I have also tried
>>>>> deleting the Dot domain but no success.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any ideas what I am doing wrong here?
>>>>>
>>>>> thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>