resolving a dns lookup problem

[Steven Claflin]

I maintain a site that I recently moved (attempted to at least) to a new
host.  I can't get the site to come up in as browser.

There have a couple recent issues with it including:

The original host was in charge of domain registration (bad idea, i know
now), and neglected to renew the registration in time - it expired May
13, 2004.  I believe that as a result, the status went to "CLIENT HOLD"
(whether a result or not, that is the current status).  After a few days
and some $$ sent their way, they renewed the reg for me and pointed the
nameservers to the new host's specified addresses, as well as setting me
as the contact so I could transfer the registration.  Is the CLIENT HOLD
status
affecting my ability to reach the site?  And if so, is that changeable
immediately, or is it one of those 45 day waiting period things?

Another potential issue is that the host makes a point of stating that
their two nameservers should be listed in a specific order.  In the
domain management page I'm using, the one that is supposed to be first
shows up as primary.  But, no matter what I do, the whois lookup shows
them in reverse order.  Is this potentially an issue?

Are there any debugging tools I can use to see at what point in the lookup
process the lookup is failing?  (DNSReport.com just says "[ERROR: The parent
servers say that the domain xyz does not exist.]"