Troubleshooting with Ping

Pinging the Local Area Network

 

Command

Target

What Ping Failure Indicates

ping 127.0.0.1

Loopback address

Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping localhost

Loopback name

Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping 192.168.1.101

This computer’s IP address

Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping winxp

This computer’s name

Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping 192.168.1.123

Another computer’s IP address

Bad hardware or NIC driver

ping win98

Another computer’s name

NetBIOS name resolution failure

Here is a series of ping commands to use in finding where a problem occurs on a local area network.  Run them in the order shown, and don’t go on to the next command until all of the previous commands work properly.  In this example:

Substitute the appropriate IP addresses and computer names for your network.

To fix a corrupted TCP/IP Installation on Windows XP, follow the steps in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article

For Windows 95/98/Me, un-install the TCP/IP protocol in Control Panel | Network, reboot, and re-install it.  If that doesn’t fix it, use this procedure on Windows 95 or 98.

 

Pinging the Internet

You can also use ping to find a problem with Internet access.  Run these commands in the order shown, and don’t go on to the next command until all of the previous commands work properly.  Use the Default Gateway and DNS Server addresses that you got from the winipcfg or ipconfig /all command. 

Command

Target

What Ping Failure Indicates

ping w.x.y.z

Default Gateway

Default Gateway down

ping w.x.y.z

DNS Server

DNS Server down

ping w.x.y.z

Web site IP address

Internet service provider or web site down

ping www.something.com

Web site name

DNS Server down or web site down