1355 the spec domain could not be contacted 1355, other AD mess

Question

I've inherited a mess here.  What I have is an environment with 1) Windows Server 2003 Std (vm) 2) Server 2008 R2 (vm) running on a 2008 R2 Hyper V host.  Both servers were DC's.  The problem is that when pointing DNS to either DC, there would
be all kinds of different errors such as access denied or domain controller couldn't be contacted, etc.  I also noticed that they were not replicating with each other for some time.  When specifying DNS to only use a specific DC, users could connect
to shares on one server but not the other.
I have run restores from the last good backups, but apparently this was a problem even at that point and restores would produce the same results.
After running the BPA on the 2008 R2 OS for AD, it came up all errors.  I proceeded under the premise that this server was more corrupt than the other, and knowing I can still go back to the backups I do have, I decided to do a dcpromo /forceremoval
after a graceful demotion wouldn't work.  At this point I was able to see that 1) was a GC, and it held all the fsmo roles.  
I could also access ADUC and ADSS from 1) so I proceeded.  I ran a metadata cleanup on 1) and then proceeded.
It's somewhat back as now I can access servers by dnsname (I couldn't before and that's what started all of this), but I can't add machines to the domain, nor can I promote the host OS to a DC (hoping that after a promo of a different server I could gracefully
remove 1) ).
I also saw that SYSVOL didn't show as a share on the 1) server although the directory exists.  I went to share it, but it couldn't populate a list of locations so I shared it to Everyone with Read access.
I then ran dcdiag and get the following failures:
Starting test: NetLogons
         Unable to connect to the NETLOGON share! (\\2003-DC-SERVER\netlogon)
         [2003-DC-SERVER] An net use or LsaPolicy operation failed with error 1203, 
No network provider accepted the given network path..
         ......................... 2003-DC-SERVER failed test NetLogons
      Starting test: Advertising
         Fatal Error:DsGetDcName (2003-DC-SERVER) call failed, error 1355
         The Locator could not find the server.
         ......................... 2003-DC-SERVER failed test Advertising
Starting test: frsevent
         There are warning or error events within the last 24 hours after the
         SYSVOL has been shared.  Failing SYSVOL replication problems may cause
         Group Policy problems.
         ......................... 2003-DC-SERVER failed test frsevent
Starting test: systemlog
         An Error Event occured.  EventID: 0xC25A002E
            Time Generated: 10/01/2014   09:12:53
            (Event String could not be retrieved)
         An Error Event occured.  EventID: 0xC25A002E
            Time Generated: 10/01/2014   09:17:21
            (Event String could not be retrieved)
         ......................... 2003-DC-SERVER failed test systemlog
Starting test: FsmoCheck
         Warning: DcGetDcName(GC_SERVER_REQUIRED) call failed, error 1355
         A Global Catalog Server could not be located - All GC's are down.
         Warning: DcGetDcName(TIME_SERVER) call failed, error 1355
         A Time Server could not be located.
         The server holding the PDC role is down.
         Warning: DcGetDcName(GOOD_TIME_SERVER_PREFERRED) call failed, error 135
5
         A Good Time Server could not be located.
         Warning: DcGetDcName(KDC_REQUIRED) call failed, error 1355
         A KDC could not be located - All the KDCs are down.
         ......................... lia.local failed test FsmoCheck

Answer 1

Hi,
So you have tried to demote the 2008 R2 DC and failed then you force-remove it and cleanup metadata, but realized it was holding FSMO roles?
Looks like all dcdiag tests are failing since you lost FSMO roles, realiable time source (which was this DC as PDC), GC. Kinda like a forest/domain recovery if i meay say.
I believe you can to do a seize operations of FSMO roles to the DC that is still running, make it a GC and set it as NTP realiable time source for the domain. Then after you test health you can promote the 2008 R2 back under a different name as additional
DC and go from there.
More on seize FSMO roles on a 2003 DC.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255504
Hope it helps.
Regards,
Calin