"Naming information cannot be located because. The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted"

Everyone...tried to search, but could not find anything on this issue. One of my domain controllers in a small regional office died. I had a file server beside it so I made it the dns/dhcp server and then promoted to a DC. All seemed well but when I went to Sites and Services and users and computers I get: "Naming information cannot be located because. The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted."

From Sites and Services on another dc i cannot replicate to the new DC. I get "The naming context is in the process of being removed or is not replicated from the specified server"

Pings between sites are working fine but dns info is not replicated either. I am 300 miles away and working on it via RDP. Oddly when I try to login it gets to running startup scripts then kicks back to login screen. Put credentials back in and then it log in. Any ideas where to start?

Thanks in advance.

It might be that you have choosen a wrong option at the Drop-down menu which name "Domain" in logon screen.You can click a small arrow to the right of the menu and choose another option such as "XXX(Local computer)".Then,input you account and password to login it. When yo get to the log-on screen with the password box for the first time have you clicked in the password box before clicking .

Zach...thanks for the follow. My issues appeared to be deeper and numerous. before promoting the File Server (FS) to a DC i removed the failed machine from AD and deleted metadata using ntdsutil. Promoted the fs to a dc but for some reason it tried to synch AD with the old (non-existant) dc...which of course it could not do, so it hung in limbo.

second was dns. it was not replicating AD integrated zone info from the primary DNS server. dcdiag and netdiag were both throwing errors. Ultimately, I ended up changing all dns zones on the dc to primary stand alone, deleted them and all the hidden resource records in AD UC. Deleted zones from dc. then allowed me to gracefully demote, then promote back. Appears to have built correctly this time. Reinstalled DNS and set zones back up. So far so good with the exception.

DNS replication took a long time.

SYSVOL and NetLOGON do not show up as shares on the new DC (yet I hope).

Thoughts? Am I too impatient!