Problem with AD and Windows 2000 Server - policies are unsettable

This is for a friend... My server is perfectly healthy, for once

When he attempts to open the 'group policy' tab of the options for the domain, he gets:

'The domain controller for group policy operations is not available. You may cancel this operation for this session or retry using one of the following domain controller choices:

The one with the operations master token for the pdc emulator
The one used by the AD snapins
Any available domain controller


After selecting any of these, I get a 'group policy error' - Failed to find a domain controller. There may be a policy that prevents you from selecting another domain controller.

Details:
The remote computer is not available.



I can ping the machine no problem, and from other pcs it works also.


Anyone able to shed any light on this error, or any idea of resolutions?

Thanks in advance.

 

Is DNS set to use the server's DNS service (or your 2000 server's IP address if you are on a remote connection)?