cannot resolve a sub-domain address

I have one Redhat 7.2 box on my network and it cannot resolve a 
sub-domains address to save its life right now.  The way the rest of my 
servers work is they append a domain to a host name if the machine is 
not on that sub domain.  Not the case on this one.



my resolve.conf looks like this:
----------------------------------
search thedomain.com dhcp.thedomain.com
nameserver 192.168.1.230

my nsswitch.conf says:
-----------------------
hosts:  files  dns



I have reversed the files and dns above to try and force it to look at 
my dns server first buy no luck.

I can't ping any of my dhcp clients with their short host name (like 
s91) from this server due to this.  A ping of a FQDN works just fine for 
dhcp clients though.

The wierd thing is you'd think that since it can't recognize who a plain 
   s91 machine name is in a ping it would not work for a host command... 
Wrong!!

using the host command on any of my dhcp boxes works!  it can get the 
freaking address from my Dns server, but it can't ping it.

I've looked at my resolv.conf and nsswitch 100 times and there are no 
weird formatting mistakes.  I've even copied in a file from another 
server I know works and still the same results.

Can anyone help or lend suggestions????

Thanks,
Matt