If your DNS appears to stop working after you move it here from another company that was managing both your domain registration and DNS, check to make sure DNS is enabled and then try querying our servers directly. E.g.: see if running a command like:
YourPrompt$ dig example.com soa @ns.phx1.nearlyfreespeech.net
returns something like:
;; ANSWER SECTION: example.com. 3600 IN SOA ns.phx1.nearlyfreespeech.net. hostmaster.nearlyfreespeech.net. 1234567890 600 180 86400 180
(Use your correct domain name and one of your assigned name servers shown on the DNS Information panel in place of example.com and ns.phx1.nearlyfreespeech.net.)
If all those steps work but your DNS still isn't visible from the outside world, e.g.:
YourPrompt$ dig example.com soa @8.8.8.8
fails with a line like this:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 12345
it could indicate that your DNS change hasn't propagated yet. In that case, all you have to do is wait.
However, there is another step you should take. Check to see if your domain has DS records:
YourPrompt$ dig example.com ds @8.8.8.8
and look for a line like:
example.com. 3600 IN DS 12345 1 2 (lots of text) 12345678
If you find one, it's probably what's breaking your DNS.
If your registrar/DNS provider set up DNSSEC, which they may have done without telling you, they installed DS records into your domain registration. If you didn't explicitly remove those records before changing your name servers, they will continue to exist. As long as they do, no one else's DNS (i.e., ours) will be accepted as valid.
DS records are part of your domain's registration, not its DNS. Make sure you look in the right place for them. For example, on our system, DS records are shown on the Registration Details panel, not the DNS Information panel.
We don't currently use DS records, so if your domain has any, you need to remove them.
If you transferred your domain registration to us, any DS records it had came with it. To remove bogus DS records for domains registered here, see this related FAQ entry.