Cannot upgrade my Server 2003 to a domain controller

[kagiso1984]

Please help, i have been trying for a month to do that without any success. the message i get is that:

Active directory installation failed because:

System\CurrentControlSet\.....\parameters...
cannot find the file specified.

[Zachary]

I think that you might need to remove the registry entries that still point to that NIC, and also change the card to another slot for good measure. Delete the following registry value and then restart the machine:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\Config

You can refer for more suggestions on how to solve this issue from here - Server 2003 Can't install or uninstall NICS - i.e. no network

[kagiso1984]

Thanks Zachary, I am trying that. another problem is whenever i try to change the ip address of my NIC, it shows that it has been changed but soon as i restart the machine, it is the same ip address, the same dns server and the like.
thanks man, i will try that right away.

[JAMES_911]

There is a step by step guide to overcome this issue related to the "Directory Services cannot start" error message on the microsoft kb article, when you start your domain controller, the screen may go blank, and you may receive the error message, so try to rectify this issue by reading the full article from here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/258062

[kagiso1984]

my server is getting worse by the day. now i get the following error: Diagnostic Failed
The registration diagnostic has been run 1 time.

Warning: Domain Controller functions like joining a domain, logging onto a domain, and Active Directory replication will not be available until the DNS infrastructure for Active Directory is correctly configured.

None of the DNS servers used by this computer responded within the timeout interval.

For more information, including steps to correct this problem, see Help.

Details
The SOA query for _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.domain.com to find the primary DNS server returned:
This operation returned because the timeout period expired.
(error code 0x000005B4 "ERROR_TIMEOUT")

[kagiso1984]

i recently upgraded one of my servers to Server 2008 and i thought i did not need S2003 anymore. so i lost my product key for S2003. please help.