I have a local lan DNS server setup that is working properly except for a new machine I'm using. I know for a fact the DNS server is working properly because I have another machine that resolves names fine.

I edited the resolv.conf file to say "nameserver X.X.X.X" where the X's are the IP to the DNS server. When I do a dig on a machine, it sais connection to dns server timed out. But, I can ping the DNS server fine. Is there some configuration I'm missing here?

First, rule out any type of firewall/ipchains/iptables lock-out. From your client, do this:

telnet x.x.x.x 53

If you get:

Trying x.x.x.x...
Connected to dns.foo.com.

..then that rules that out. However, if you cannot connect to port 53 of x.x.x.x (your DNS server) then you're really not getting through.

--

If you ARE getting through, you can't resolve, you need to check your named.conf to make sure that you have it open to do name resolution for that particular client's IP address. It's often a very good idea (not sure if it ships stock) to lock down BIND so that recursive queries aren't performed for outside hosts.

Ok I tried doing the telnet to port 53 and it worked.

How do I lock down bind?

-edit: while poking around in the log files I found out that my named.conf file is not parsing right.

Ahh, very cool. Then it's just your BIND conf file -- most likely a simple syntax error, or a non-terminating bracket.

Yea I found a problem with my syntax, it was just a wrong comment. Anyways, now im getting an "I/O Error".

Where is the I/O error popping up and can you paste it here?

I managed to fix it by using the /usr/sbin/named startup script rather than the /etc/init.d/named one. I had to also use the -u command with the user being named.