Local Computer Policies Disappearing

I'm completely befuddled. Here's the setup: For a few years now, I've been running a combination of roaming profiles, folder redirection, and dynamic local users (Novell) in our student computing labs. The roaming profiles and redirected folders are stored on the user's Netware drive. The local computers are running Win XP SP 3.

We just got a batch of new computers to replace all the student computers. I decided to do a completely fresh installation on the new computers. Sounded like a good idea at the time, but I can't get the profiles to work correctly on the new systems. The Netware policies have not changed (the older computers are still using them) and I've copied all the local computer policies on the older computers to the new.

With the policies setup, I log off Administrator and logon with a student account. It's immediately apparent that the logon scripts aren't working (one is supposed to change the desktop). Logging back on as Administrator, I find that all the local policies are gone, vanished into thin air. That is, the directories C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine and C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\User are empty.

At this point, I'm completely at a loss as to what to try next and am desperate for help!