[ActiveDir] Help to Explain how a Domain Controller could be Overwritten by a Member Server

[Dan Pilloff]

I was hoping somebody might be able to explain how the following occurred.  A member server was built with the same name as an existing Domain Controller, Domain Controller A.  The server was somehow put in the domain, and rebooted.  In addition, I believe the server was then renamed to Domain Controller B (just a name as it was not dcpromoed). while still in the domain.  The end result was that the existing Domain controller, Domain Controller A was somehow overwritten by the member server, and, its display name in ADUC changed to this new name Domain Controller B.  The offending Domain Controller B was then deleted from the domain controllers OU.  The event logged for the change shows  “Target Account Name: Domain Controller B but Target Account ID Domain Controller A, they are mismatched.  I believe the same event was displayed for the delete.  I entered this issue after all the above had occurred and performed an authoritative restore of the object (original Domain Controller A) and stopped the KDC, replicated, and got the domain controller back.  I have researched this issue, and tried to recreate the issue many different ways in a test lab but cannot recreate it.  Has anyone ever seen anything like this?  I am absolutely dumbfounded.