User account cannot log on

[teemus13]

Hello.. We have a user logging onto an NT4 workstation (in a domain) getting the message "system cannot log you on. make sure your user name and domain are correct" -- the standard message if something's entered incorrectly..

However we've re-set the password on the domain and verified it's being typed correctly -- still can't log on. User is a member of group 'domain users', and 'domain users' is member of 'power users' on the local machine.. I copied his account on the domain, used that one -- but could not log on.. I made a new 'regular user' acct -- it couldn't log on either.. My account however (domain admin) and the local admin account log on just fine..

I assume it has something to do with a policy or group membership somewhere -- but wondering if anyone has any suggestions what to check?? Any adivce would be appreciated.. thx, teemuS

[patweb]

I appears that the computer is not accessing the BDC for authentication. Are your computers running DHCP? Are all of the WINS and DNS servers (specified in DHCP) running?

Try removing the computer from the domain, change the computer name and readd it to the domain.

[blueindian]

One other easy thing to check is to make sure the user's account has not been locked out due to failed logon attempts. Does he have rights to logon to that particular machine within UMFD? Definitely sounds like the user's account has permissions issues.

[teemus13]

thanks patweb and blueindian for your suggestions.. another user in the building had the same issue since I wrote my post yesterday a.m. --so then I started suspecting something more at the server or domain level - perhaps with the authentication..

I forgot to mention this (bad me), but we installed a new Win2K file/ print/exchange/dhcp server last week.. It was meant to take the place of an NT4 file/print/exchange/dhcp server on site.. I turned off all shares and deactivated the scope of the nt4 box, but left it on the network in case we needed it back up quickly.. (I assumed it wouldn't cause any issues, since for the first few days all was working OK with both boxes up..)

One difference however is the nt4 box was a BDC, and the new 2K of course is not.. (domain still in mixed mode..) Only thing I can guess is maybe as the dhcp leases expired and tried to renew, or users were forced to change their passwords -- some kind of conflict was happening?? Or maybe the workstations were getting confused hitting this nearby BDC instead of another one in the domain?? I'm not sure, as I didn't think that should happen-- but I removed the nt4 box from the network - and voila! all users could log on OK.. strange huh? thank you again for your input - I appreciate it..

[waynejra]

If this user has logged on to this machine before, try changing their user profile to profilenameold and have them try logging in. This has worked for me in the past.

[patweb]

If you are using Active Directory (you mentioned mixed mode) the DHCP server must be AUTHORIZED by AD to lease addresses. If you can't receive a DHCP address from the server this is likely the problem. On the DHCP MMC console, there is a menu option to 'authorize' the DHCP server.

Of course, if you are getting addresses leased, this is not the problem.