Logon Problem; Domain not found; log on using cached account information

Hi everyone,

One of our users had the following message when he tried to log on to the domain.....

"A domain for your domain could not be contacted. You have been log on using cached account information. Changes to your profile since you last log on may not be available. "

If someone can help me to fix this problem, I'll be really appreicate. Thank you.

 

Some reasons for your reference.

1. The domain server is down.
If use can logon on other machine in this domain, skip this.

2. The network has malfunction.

This needs you provide more information about your network.Such as:
1, can you ping the domain server?
2, new install firewall?
....

as much as you can so that people can help you quickly.

 

Hi Jason,

I can ping the domain server, and there is no any new firewall. Although user had the message, after he logged on, there is no any problems to access domain, and can do the regular jobs. I'm really confused because if base on the message, then he should not be able to access to the domain. Do you have any idea ?......

 

These are useful information.
But if you can provide more, that would be great!

What's the domain server? NT, 2000, or 2003 ?
What's the workstation's OS ?

Did he use the same computer he used to use?(sometime I confused my English -)

You said there is no new firewall, does it imply you have old one? Did anything be changed on it?
... ...

Anyway, the more info you give, the faster the answer will come.

 

If the user has offline files enabled, a logon with cached credentials can fool you into thinking you have a domain conection.

I would Start button, Run, CMD
netsh diag gui
Enable all options

See what has failed.

 

Hi Jason,

The domain which we have NT4.0 Service pack 6, and the workstation is NT4.0 Service pack 6, too ( I knew it's very old machine and OS ). We didn't change anything in the firewall, and user uses the same PC everyday. That message just suddenly came up a week ago. If you still need more information, just let me know....... Thank you.

 

Hahaha

I meant not only me would help you by the detail infomation. See, Bill have you doing a test. Have you done that?

Currently, our system is windows 2003 standard version in the office. Some customers are still using the NT, But I can't do some test on their live enviroment. I believe Bill will give you more suggestions.

 

Hi Bill, Thanks for helping.

I tried this command, but it seems that it didn't work on NT4.0 machine. When I typed it, the screen showed
"The name specified is not recognized as an
internal or external command, operable program or batch file ". I also tried other Win2000 machine, and this command worked.....Any idea about this??

 

There should be a lot of options you can check, like ping, connect, mail service...anyway, check all of them and "scan" your system and post the result here.

 

Another thing worth considering is that when authenticating Windows will try to access your server by name. Therefore, your name resolution has to be working correctly. In other words, DNS has to be set up correctly. If you do an

Code:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Is your 2003 server listed as the top DNS server?

 

The error mesage says essentially that the user has connectivity (hardware) problems, or that your WIINT Server has intermittent problems.

Since only the this user is suffering the issue the connection to the Server is suspected of being intermmitent. The Cable plant, hardware (the NIC, the switch port used), are all suspicious.

So take them in pieces and divide and conqure. Replace the cable between workstation and wallplate. If the problem persists, try a different port at the switch/router. If the problem persists, replace the NIC in the workstation. If the problem persists, replace the cable between wallplate and patch panel.

This is not a "logical" error in Netbios or other naming. There is only one instance I know of where it would be so: If the workstation Name was identical to the Domain Name. Barring that, it is hardware.

 

There is no 2003 Server.

 

You're quite right. That should read "Is your NT4 server listed as the top DNS server?"

However, NT4 doesn't rely on DNS the same way as Windows 2000/2003. So a more relevant question is, are you using WINS and if so is your NT4 server shown as the WINS server. It could be name resolution issue, and in an NT4 environment - that's WINS.

 

Sorry....keep to bothering everyone.

Is that possible the problem relates to the user's profile ?
Because when I used my account, which is "administrator account" to sign on at the same machine, there was no any error message pop up. So I guess maybe any security or permission issues related ......

 

No, not bothering, you give us a lot chance to practise.

I am confused too because you said you didn't change anything.

 

Can you clarify something.

Does the error message appear every time the user logs on?

Does the error message not appear every time you log on as admin?

Also, does the user have local admin rights?

 

Hi Reggie,

Sorry for late to reply. I went for vacation....

NO....The message does NOT appear everytime when user logs on. Sometimes it pop up, but sometime doesn't , and it never shows up when Admin logs on. By the way, user doesn't have local admin rights.

 

Intermittent log on problem then.

I think Bill might be right - this is starting to sound very like a cable problem. Two things to try:

1. Log on as the user on a different computer. Do they get the same problem? This may tie the problem down to particular hardware. If there is a permission problem with the users account, it should move with the user.

2. You could try another computer at the same network connection (a laptop would make this easy) and see if the problem occurs again.

However, a quick thing to try may be to simply change the patch lead between the network wall socket and the PC and the patch lead for this user's computer at the switch. Also try moving the computer's connection to a different port on your switch.