samba - Jul 2002 - Strange apparently WinDNS-related problem

We have a Linux box running Samba in a domain with a Windows NT Server PDC. 
The samba shares have disappeared from users' machines this morning, and in 
the event viewer on the PDC (which is authenticating users) I see an event 
ID 5723 with message "The session setup from the computer SAMBA failed 
because there is no trust account in the security database for this 
computer. The name of the account referenced in the security database is 
SAMBA$", and data 0000 8b 01 00 c0 (which the MS knowledgebase is helpfully
silent on). The PDC has itself lost the ability to see the samba shares and 
can't get the Samba server by name despite being the DNS server too; I see 
no problems with the Microsoft DNS setup, but am not sure about the WINS 
setup since I don't know WINS well at all.

I have seen a couple of other strange problems on the network which suggest 
that there might be a fight going on over which machine gets to be master 
browser; I understand having the wrong master can cause bizarre effects, 
but I have 'local master' set to no.

I can still ping the samba server by name and IP address, but running 'net 
view wild' from a DOS prompt gets me 'network path was not found'.
(It was
working yesterday!) I thought it might be to do with the WINS resolution 
again, so I changed 'wins support' to yes and tried to stop and restart 
Samba using init.d, but I got an error:

Starting SAMBA nmbdstartproc:  exit status of parent of /usr/sbin/nmbd: 
10  failed
Starting SAMBA 
smbd                                                         failed

In fact smbd started, but with no nmbd. Changing 'wins support' back to
no
again fixed the problem.

Here's my smb.conf. Can anyone shed light on where/what the problem 
actually is?

[global]
         netbios name = SAMBA
         workgroup = DOMAIN1
         domain master = no
         browseable = yes
         os level = 2
         wins server = 172.17.1.2
         hosts allow = 172.17.1.2 172.17.3. 127.
         interfaces = 172.17.1.3/255.255.0.0
         encrypt passwords = yes
         guest account = Nobody
         map to guest = Bad User
         add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd %u
         delete user script = /usr/sbin/userdel %u
         unix password sync = yes
         passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
         passwd chat = "New password:*" %n\n "Re-enter new
password:*" %n\n
"Pass
word changed*"

# This tells samba to write log files per machine.
         log file = /var/log/samba/%m
# This sets an alternate log level. Default is 2.
         log level = 3

# Uncomment the following, if you want to use an existing NT-Server to
# authenticate users, but don't forget that you also have to create them
# locally!
         security = domain
         password server = 172.17.1.2
         socket options = SO_KEEPALIVE IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY

         local master = No

         interfaces = lo eth0

         wins support = yes # (doesn't work; 'no' does work)

         wins server = 172.17.1.2

         character set = ISO8859-15
         client code page = 850

         veto files = /*.eml/*.nws/riched20.dll/*.{*}/
[vicky]
         comment = Linux home directory for Vicky
         browseable = no
         valid users = vclarke root Administrator
         path = /home/vclarke
         read only = no
         create mask = 0600
         directory mask = 0700

[homes]
         comment = User home directory
         path = /share/pchomes/%S
         read only = No
         create mask = 0640
         directory mask = 0750
         browseable = No
         writeable = yes
#       nt acl support = yes


# Create a general-purpose shared directory everyone can use

[art]
         comment = Art directories
         path= /share/art
         writeable = yes
         create mask = 0666
         directory mask = 0775

Thanks in advance..
Vicky Clarke