Tracert/Ping -- Do they still work?

I've tried both ping and tracert to several different IP addresses (including vbforums) and always seems to get timed out before I reach the IP. I get around 8 hops before timeout occurs.

Yet I can connect to each host without a problem.

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Can someone please explain:

1) Why this would occur?
2) Is there anyway to get around (test) the host without a timeout?
3) If you are experiencing a slow connection (to a dedicated server) is there a way to determine where the problem exists (Tele, ISP, specific router, etc.) without ping or tracert?

Thanks
David

1) Somewhere along the route, there's a block on the ICMP packages, those are the ones that ping and tracert uses to test connectivity. This is pretty common.

2) You can use TCP scanners instead of ping. Look for nmap on google, it's a multiplataform network scanner.

3) You can try to use pathping, instead of tracert. I've found that pathping works sometimes where tracert doesn't. Ex: pathping www.yahoo.com

HTH
HoraShadow

HoraShadow

Thanks for response. Will give them a go.

David

The pings will get timed out because every computer whos owner has some sense will have a software firewall at least, which will deny any ping and not respond to it