DNS Starts but cannot use NSLOOKUP

[z-lawre]

Hi all,

I have a strange problem that I cannot figure out.  I am able to configure
a DNS server on linux redhat 7.0 and FreeBSD 4.1 running bind 8.2.3.  The
server starts up okay with no errors.  The problem I'm having is when I 
try to do an nslookup on the server running dns.  When I run nslookup it
pauses a while and says that it can't find server name for address xxxx:
Non-existent host/domain or i get a Server fail.  I've tried reinstalling 
on both a linux and a freebsd machine and it's always the same.  

Even though it doesn't allow me to just use the server after typing in
nslookup, I'm able to enter the server address after I type in nslookup.

Can anyone help me with this delimma.

Thanks,
Lawrence