There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request

did you setup a WINS server?

Did you set the WINS into the network cards of workstations?

No, WINS is not a requirement in a pure Windows 2008 IP network.

What?? Demazter ASKING a question?  I am honoured to be of assistance... :-)

You say that DNS & DHCP configs are correct?
I've experienced this in the past & it's frequently come down to a DNS issue. In one instance, the DNS service had been removed from a server, but the clients were still trying to reference it.
Are there any events in the system log of the WS that point to anything specific?
If you have 600 WS, then there are probably multiple DHCP scopes.  Are all the scopes configured correctly?
If on a client machine that's giving the fault, can you ping / nslookup the DCs or other servers at the time of the error?
Are all the WS that are giving this error on the same subnet or plugged into the same switch?
Is it the same set of WS that have this problem?
HTH, if not to solve, then at least to analyse further.

Yep, so you know I have investigated most options already :)

To add to the pot, there has been no significant change to the network that was working perfectly with Windows XP.  The only change was a migration from Windows XP to Windows 7.

I have also added 2 EXTRA DNS and DC's to the mix, just to be absolutely sure.

No, there is only one DHCP scope, it's assigned by the local authority (DON'T ASK!)

Ping/NSLOOKUP yes.

The network is a distributed network and all clients are on edge switches (GB to the desktop) in multiple buildings which are then connected via 10GB fibre to the core switch which has a 1.2TB backplane.

No, it's not the same workstations, it's randomly ALL of them at some point.  Simply rebooting however, normally resolves the problem.  but the teachers are getting a bit miffed about doing that.

What about the DNS servers themselves?  Are there any notable errors on the DNS service?  Can you time-correlate any of the Win7 events to DNS server events?  How many DCs/DNS servers are there in total?  Does DHCP issue addresses for all of them?

Can find no errors in the DNS server logs of any significance.

Nope, cannot time-correlate at all, it's very odd

There are now 4 Virtual DC's/DNS and 2 Physical DC's.

DHCP does issue addresses for them all but it's load ballanced between 3 servers.

Have you removed the PC from the domain and then added it again?

Hi does dcdiag /v and netdiag /v on the servers give you any hints about what can be wrong?

And if you do a nslookup of the domain is all the IP's resolved accessable from the clients on the standard ports for logon?

Just a thought. I have had a very similar issue at a school site myself. The scope was also assigned by the local authority. It turned out that they had set the wrong subnet mask!

Are all the WS the same make & model?  I know it's reaching here, but could there possibly be a NIC driver issue?  I'm working on Conan-Doyle's theory that when the impossible has been eliminated, even the very improbable may be at the root...
Do any of the servers exhibit this problem or is it only the W7 units?

The subnet mask is correct.  it's been working perfectly for at least 5 years.

No, they are all different models, ranging from ASUS to HP to Stone.

However, I have just rebooted one of the DC's and it's failed to come back online.  Watch this space......

Sound a bit weird, but did you check that everything is time synchronised with your PDC?

Daelt, I mean no offence but the level I work at is way above that.  These issues have already been investigated before I even thought about posting a question.

Sure... like I said just a thought. I encountered the issues as new machines were added and the scope exhausted.

Daelt, I mean no offence but the level I work at is way above that.  These issues have already been investigated before I even thought about posting a question.

Best people often fall on a minor easy thing they forgot to check because they thought it was obvious.

Hmmm the only thing I can think of that changes when you upgrade to Windows 7 is IPv6 support. Your article talks about disabling IPv6 on the servers and clients. My question is whether you have IPv6 switched off on the Windows clients and the server. If not its worth a try.

IPv6 is enabled ni it's default state on both server and clients.

There is no reason to disable this.

Well I always like the "random" problems....they always appear to be random until you find the solution and it is not random at all.

My thoughts:
longon servers are located through dns I would crawl through your dns server and make sure there are no _srv records pointing to a non-existent domain controller.


"However, I have just rebooted one of the DC's and it's failed to come back online" ........ any news here?

maybe this will sound as another low level answer, sorry about that, but this kind of error do sometimes happen when simple file sharing is activated both client and server side.
If it comes from this, random factor can be from the fact it's maybe not activated on all your DCs.

Sorry, but why would I have file sharing enabled at all on any of my DC's??

Sorry, but why would I have file sharing enabled at all on any of my DC's??

Maybe because it is enabled by default and tagged "as recommended"?

please post the results obtained after running IPCONFIG /all on the server...and
the problem workstation, after that Post exact output...please don't mask it
Now restart your system.

ComputerBeast, what information do you want from those outputs?

FileShareing on a DC is enabled purely to support FRS, it is not enabled for any other reason.

Also, the same machine rebooting will then connect, then after another reboot it won't.  If it was a permission or sharing issue then it wouldn't work at all.

Hi demazter,

Have you reset the Secure Channel password?

Make sure drivers are up to date I had the same problem not long ago ended up being drivers and firmware once these were updated a secure channel password reset was required

Are any of the machines that are having this problem connecting to the network via a wireless connection or are they all hardwired?

a mixture of both.

Daruis, I will check.  At the moment, one of the DC's is having a wobbly and won't do as it's told.  it's got about another 30 minutes before I nuke it completely and build another one.

When I run into this problem on a somewhat regular basis at a location, I go into Group Policy and Enable "Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon" under the default domain policy. This entry can be found under Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Logon

This more than always eliminates the issue for me.

This happens on Windows 7 laptops if not directly connected to the network after installing software onto them or do a Windows update. Is random but happens after updates often. Connecting the laptop to the physical LAN corrects the issue until the next update/software installation.

We occasionally suffer from this problem on our network, "new" with our deployment of Windows 7. It seems the policy that tells the computer to wait for networking no longer applies as it did with XP.

For those that suffer, do you find they work quite happily once they've booted? Or does this problem leave the machines in a permanent mess?

Chris

PS Hungover so comments may only make partial sense

They seem to resolve after a reboot but not always.

Hmm can you snoop on any of the switch ports?

It'd be quite interesting to see what the client is trying to send, it must be attempting to look up the service records to locate the DCs. It's entirely possible the switch port isn't coming up fast enough I suppose.

Chris

I thought of that but.....the computers will work fine.  At the end of the class the kids will logoff or restart, once restarted or logged off the error occurs.

After another restart the error goes away on the whole, but occasionally it doesn't.

Doesn't sound like it's tied to updates really, you'd have a nice predictable pattern if that were the case.

I know, when we first bumped into this problem, we implemented a longer time out for group policy. Kind of annoyed anyone that took their laptops home :) We didn't do anything to fix it, we theorised that it was spanning tree, but our office network is "managed" and we couldn't (still can't) check.

Chris

there is no spanning tree enabled here, the phones would throw a hissy fit!

It's gotta be network connectivity, even if that's the fault of the operating system. Silly question, how quickly to the machines boot? The ones that caused us the most trouble have solid state drives, OS is up before the network even knows they're there.

Chris

Did you ever check the secure channel password reset?

Hi darius,
yes I did, and as of yet, no change.

I have implemented some registry changes I found from our friend google.  I will let you know how they went.

You said these are classroom machines, they are not all logging in at the same time, i.e. Start of class?

Would it be possible to install wireshark on a few of the clients & then when they are having a wobbly, do a capture for port 53 & see if there's anything amiss? & some of the common DS ports as well?

>>You said these are classroom machines, they are not all logging in at the same time, i.e. Start of class?
Yes they are, but this should make little or no difference.

>>Would it be possible to install wireshark on a few of the clients & then when they are having a wobbly, do a capture for port 53 & see if there's anything amiss? & some of the common DS ports as well?
Already done, and nothing of any note.  Remember, I can't get in to the machine at time of failure because it will not logon.  When it does logon it all works.  Logging in locally shows little or nothing of any value.

I would really look at the fact that the computer appears to be in a ready state when it boots up yet the network has not actually started yet. Can you login with a local user account and verify that the machine sees the network even though it is claiming no logon servers?

>>you login with a local user account and verify that the machine sees the network even though it is claiming no logon servers

As above, I have already confirmed this.

Have you tried adding the group policy setting i suggested earlier in this thread?

Yes, that was one of the first things I tried before posting a question.

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