Okay. This server was running as the AD and GC for the domain. It's Server 2008 SBS. Original software that came with the machine is HP-branded and comes with their software. I downloaded original Server 2008 media to rule that out as an issue. I had fired up a Server 2008 Std R2 in a VM and transferred FSMO roles over to the VM previously. Now I'm trying to rebuild the first server and then transfer FSMO roles back over. However, when it comes to promoting this machine (now on the domain it used to host), it fails every time, and I can't figure out why.
It has 12GB RAM, ~24GB paging file, and I've tried advanced mode with all kinds of flags such as replicating only critical data, not auto-setting up DNS, not setting up as a GC, etc. Nothing works, this error every time. I'm not convinced it's a memory error: the server isn't doing anything at the moment but running default installed services (minus Exchange).
Help?
