Using Ping to Troubleshoot Network Problem

Sometimes your network connection is down and you can use ping to troubleshoot network problem and then fix it.

Ping is a program used to check whether a host is up and active in network. It’s pretty simple and usually used to troubleshoot network problem. Here is typical home network design, and the technique described applies to wireless network as well.

1) First thing you need to do is to make sure there is light on network card with cable connected. Sometimes network down is due to disconnected network cable or loose cable connection. If found no light on your network card after connecting with network cable, make sure the network cable is working and router that connected by this computer is up and active. If you see the light, then proceed to step 2.

Note: Make sure your network connection is enabled in Windows XP/2000.

2) Go to Start and click on Run.

3) Run window will appear. Type in cmd on Run window and click OK.

4) Key in ping 127.0.0.1 in Command Prompt window. This is network card loopback address. If you receive Reply from 127.0.0.1, it works. If you receive Request timed out, it means network card doesn’t work properly. Unplug and re-seat the network card, connect with network cable then ping loopback address again. If still fails, check the network card driver status to troubleshoot network card and make sure the card works well. If still fails, most probably the network card cannot be used anymore. Try again by using other network cards.

5) Now you proceed to ping your computer IP address.

6) If you able to ping loopback address and your computer IP, now you proceed to ping router IP address. if you receive Request timed out, check your computer network information such as IP address, subnet mask and router to make sure set up correctly. Make sure router is up also.

7)If you can ping the router IP, then you should be able to ping the other computers or notebook in your network. If you still fail to ping the router IP or other computers, then you can take a look on the wireless network setup or wired home network setup tutorial.

8) If you have successfully done above steps and all are working properly, but you still fail to connect internet, then check your DSL or cable modem to make sure all cables are connected correctly. Reset your DSL or cable modem and try internet access after that. If your network is still down after that, contact your ISP for getting further helps to troubleshoot network problem. This might be due to some problems at your ISP side and beyond your control.

Note: If you have installed firewall on router, make sure firewall is set up correctly without dropping legitimate network packets.

Recommended Readings:

How to Troubleshoot Network Connectivity Problems from Microsoft
CheckHosts: Free tool to Monitor/Troubleshoot Network Problem