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Server 2003 slow to log in Administrator

Hi, We have an MS Server 2003 Standard , was installed 12 moths ago, new good specs intel base hardware.        It is the Domain control with active directory , 20 users with XP Pro, file & print share, latest win updates, not serving any apps.
It sometimes take VERY long time (10 - 40 minutes) to log in as administrator onto it. It authenticates, shows you the standard MS blue desktop screen (no icons) & just sits there...
When you restart it (by pressing the naughty little button at the front) Admin can log in within 2 -3 minutes, as you would normally expect.
We used to backup w Retrospect 6 server (inheritance from old server) & it seemed to lock up when login in as backup user to swap backup HDD's (since few months reverted to only admin login)  & starting a second instance of retrospect. Last month we remove Retro & changed over to Acronis server 11 (AUR), issue is still existing - especially when login using RDP

Any ideas out there?       Many thanks for our help.
Microsoft Server OSWindows Server 2003Acronis

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crystaltec
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Karl
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If you log in with a different account (with Admin rights) is it as slow? or is it the same?
What are the hardware specs of the problematic server? (i.e. Model/Brand, CPU, Ram, Disk space, etc)

Is the Windows Server acting as the DNS server or is it querying a remote DNS server site?
http://www.ntcompatible.com/Slow_login_to_Domain_t26626.html

Does your Event Log show any warnings or errors?

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crystaltec
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ASKER

harware specs are
Intel Xeon 2.4G
2G ECC KIngston RAM
2x250G SATA Seagate in RAID 1

Server is the DNS Server
users login on the domain with raoming profiles happily & fast

will check logs & check re the info in link & post back , ta
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crystaltec
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ASKER

Checked the logs, some errors w DNS after boot, DNS complains in can't find active directory....NAT is installed although Server only using 1 NIC (onboard, Intel Giga) , will uninstall it & test than (can only do it late night ealy next week).
interestingly enough, I was working on some of the workstations, moved a 1.5G file from a wrkstn on to server D drive (main RAID drive partitioned to 2) & the server got VERY sluggish, behaving like the issue I was experiencing, copied file back to work station, still sluggish but not as bad - copied it back to server - pretty bad.
Copied large fle for C: to D: directly on server - no worries.
another piece to the mystery is taskmgr would not work, even when I Run C:/Windows/System32/taskmgr.exe it won't run, can see the file there but can't execute. (properties permissions etc are all fine) , even tried run as Admin, no go.
Installed Process Explorer & from within it click restore task mgr & WALLA, it's back....
Corrupted registry? bad NIC?
Sounds like it could be a combination problem.

1) Is SMART enabled on the SATA hard drives?
2) What happens if you add another NIC to the board and try with it?
3) Are any errors or warning appearing in the Event Log?
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crystaltec
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ASKER

Thanks for suggestions, will try all above & report back, may take a few days to find right after-hours time.

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crystaltec
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ASKER

here's the dump.txt

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : server
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : bbcc.local
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : bbcc.local

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 PM Network Connection
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-17-23-7B-5A
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
                                       192.168.0.1

Errors in DNS logs are appearing only after boot, otherwise it's clean
source DNS Event ID 4004
The DNS server was unable to complete directory service enumeration of zone bbcc.local.  This DNS server is configured to use information obtained from Active Directory for this zone and is unable to load the zone without it.  Check that the Active Directory is functioning properly and repeat enumeration of the zone. The extended error debug information (which may be empty) is "". The event data contains the error.

Errors in Application logs are appearing only after boot, otherwise it's clean
source MSDTC Event ID 53258
MS DTC could not correctly process a DC Promotion/Demotion event. MS DTC will continue to function and will use the existing security settings. Error Specifics: %1


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crystaltec
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ASKER

server was mis configure in the initial set-up.
found this once studied details of logs & IPCONFIG
Thanks mwecomputers: (points awarded) for putting me in right direction

DHCP was coming from router, DNS & NAT (RAS) installed on the server.
but server only using 1 NIC so NAT was not needed.

Now we have DHCP & DNS served by the server, & uninstalled NAT (RAS).

Seems much better now.
Thank you all for your help
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 was based on Windows XP and was released in four editions: Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter. It also had derivative versions for clusters, storage and Microsoft’s Small Business Server. Important upgrades included integrating Internet Information Services (IIS), improvements to Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP), and the migration to Automated System Recovery (ASR).

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