Ping and packet loss

WaxiesDargle

I'm not techy at all and I've just stumbled on how to do a ping test and the results were:-

20 Pings Sent
0 Pings Recieved
100% Packet Loss

Can someone please let me know what causes pings not to be received at the server?

I was just wondering if it can be anything to do with my ISP before I call them. I had no internet for 3 weeks before BT outreach came and told me the wire from the pole became obsolete in 1987 and it was so brittle it snapped and he changed it.
Thanks

psychic_teabag

The simplest cause for missing pings is that your internet conection isn't working. (Eg connectivity problem, or bad routing configuration).

Your ping test is presumably targetting one particular server : if that server is currently off (or misconfigured) it would be unable to reply, even if the rest of the internet is working.

However, pings use a slightly different kind of packet from normal TCP. (They use ICMP, or internet control message protocol.) Routers can choose to block these rather than transmitting them. So it is possible for normal TCP to be working, but pings to not work.

Was this a ping test built into your router, or were you typing a ping command into a command window on your pc ? If the latter, pings to your own router ought to work.

AJXX

Can someone please let me know what causes pings not to be received at the server?

You haven't provided enough information.

IMO if you're attempting to troubleshoot connectivity to something outside of your home network it would be better to do a trace route instead of a ping. The trace route will show you exactly where the packets are being dropped.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314868

In a nutshell open command prompt and type "tracert yourserver"

John_Gray

It's likely that the server does not allow incoming PINGs, hence they show as failing!

pappa_golf

or your phone wire is still broken

forgotmyname

What were you pinging?

Firewall blocking it if your actually doing it properly.

System

Hi

From my router I have a screen to allow me to ping places.
ping 212.58.244.22 100% received
ping 62.252.191.241 100% received

From a dos box I do lose 100%, but if you type the name bbc.co.uk you get an IP address, as with google.

ping bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.22]
ping google.co.uk [62.252.191.241]

bluesnake

johndough wrote: »

Hi

From my router I have a screen to allow me to ping places.
ping 212.58.244.22 100% received
ping 62.252.191.241 100% received

From a dos box I do lose 100%, but if you type the name bbc.co.uk you get an IP address, as with google.

ping bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.22]
ping google.co.uk [62.252.191.241]

We use names, but computers use ip addresses.

when you typed in ping, your PC sent a DNS message to port 53 which travelled through your firewall, to your router which has stripped you nated ip and put on your outside world real ip and forwarded this to your isp still on port 53. The request will go through your isp firewall, load balancer, and then make a DNS request. This DNS request can be rejected anytime, but it may not even get there.

A response is sent to you which says the droid you are looking for is really ip 212.58.244.22, but it also does not have to respond, and also other items including your firewall may block your incoming response too by shutting down incoming port 53.

only now will your PC continue with the rest of the ping command, as displayed by the ip address that you got. In your case BBC has not responded, or the path to and from them has been blocked.

The normal state of a firewall is to block everything, then only open the ports you need.

ping and tracert do not talk the same language, so work differently. one may give results, other may not, or no results from any.