Ping no Ping

I have a LAN with some systems on WinXP and some on Win98 with NAV.
Network seems to be working fine, i.e., I can see all other computers
in Windows Explorer and transfer files and play network games. My
only question is: "Why don't the other computers respond to the ping
command at the prompt?"

I have reviewed the network settings using ipconfig and noticed that I
do not have a default gateway assigned. Could this be the reason why
I cannot ping other computers? Is this a more secure setting? That
is not to have a default gateway?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tom

"Tom" <tom_n_ape@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:80a3896f.0404270833.33a97f96@posting.google.c om...
> I have a LAN with some systems on WinXP and some on Win98 with NAV.
> Network seems to be working fine, i.e., I can see all other computers
> in Windows Explorer and transfer files and play network games. My
> only question is: "Why don't the other computers respond to the ping
> command at the prompt?"
>
> I have reviewed the network settings using ipconfig and noticed that I
> do not have a default gateway assigned. Could this be the reason why
> I cannot ping other computers? Is this a more secure setting? That
> is not to have a default gateway?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Tom


Are you trying to ping by name or IP address?
What error message do you get from the ping attempt?

First suspect would be firewalls blocking ICMP ( pings ).

--
Best Regards,
Ron Lowe
MS-MVP Windows Networking

"Ron Lowe" <ron-msng@{d.e.l.e.t.e.}lowe-family.me.uk> wrote in message news:<OxNY31HLEHA.2012@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl>...
> "Tom" <tom_n_ape@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:80a3896f.0404270833.33a97f96@posting.google.c om...
> > I have a LAN with some systems on WinXP and some on Win98 with NAV.
> > Network seems to be working fine, i.e., I can see all other computers
> > in Windows Explorer and transfer files and play network games. My
> > only question is: "Why don't the other computers respond to the ping
> > command at the prompt?"
> >
> > I have reviewed the network settings using ipconfig and noticed that I
> > do not have a default gateway assigned. Could this be the reason why
> > I cannot ping other computers? Is this a more secure setting? That
> > is not to have a default gateway?
> >
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Tom
>
>
> Are you trying to ping by name or IP address?
> What error message do you get from the ping attempt?
>
> First suspect would be firewalls blocking ICMP ( pings ).

I have tried pinging using both the host name and IP address, neither
are working. The error message I receive is "unknown host".

Thanks for your help.

Tom

> > Are you trying to ping by name or IP address?
> > What error message do you get from the ping attempt?
> >
> > First suspect would be firewalls blocking ICMP ( pings ).
>
> I have tried pinging using both the host name and IP address, neither
> are working. The error message I receive is "unknown host".
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Tom


"unknown host" indicates a name resolution failure.
You would only see this when attempting to ping using the name.
That's problem number 1.

When attempting to ping using an IP address, the error should be
different, since there's no name resolution to do.
That's problem number 2.

What error do you get from pinging by IP address?
Timeout?
Unreachable?

I'm still suspecting a firewall.
That could kill both broadcast name resolution ( #1 );
and ICMP pings ( #2).

Do you have any firewalls running?

Just for the record, go to a command prompt and issue
the command "ipconfig /all", and report the node type.
That's a factor in name resolution ( #1 ),
but not in straight IP address ping failure ( #2 ).


--
Best Regards,
Ron Lowe
MS-MVP Windows Networking