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"General Failure" When pinging

Ok so my connection has been playing up over the past few days, I really have no idea whats wrong with it. The connection appears to be "dropping" every few seconds, which I confirmed by trying to ping my default gateway, which returned high ping times and "General Failure" every so often.

The problem doesnt seem to happen all the time,

I've tried reinstalling drivers already but no luck there, same problem. I'm going to just give as much info as i can and hope someone has some idea of how to fix this, its driving me nuts! :mad:

::*_Information_*::

_OPERATING_SYSTEM_ Windows Vista 32 bit

_ROUTER_ SpeedTouch 585v6

_NETWORK_ADAPTER_

*Name:* Atheros AR5006EG Wireless Network Adapter DRIVER VERSION:[/B] 7.3.1.109 [B]_IPCONFIG/ALL_ Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000] Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LiamsPC Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : lan

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : lan Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5006EG Wireless Network Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-E3-AF-65-CD DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6d3d:35a0:e360:ef7f%12(Preferred) IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.65(Preferred) Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 21 November 2007 17:23:28 Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 22 November 2007 17:23:28 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 201332451 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-A0-D1-66-5F-CA DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : lan Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.65%13(Preferred) Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{BB5107DF-0CF9-42B8-B2DF-766AA42FC6B3} Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

_PING_192.168.1.254_-N_1000_ Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 1000, Received = 832, Lost = 168 (16% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 1054ms, Average = 26ms

_PING_GOOGLE.COM_ Pinging google.com [72.14.207.99] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 72.14.207.99: bytes=32 time=120ms TTL=242 General failure. Reply from 72.14.207.99: bytes=32 time=122ms TTL=242 Reply from 72.14.207.99: bytes=32 time=131ms TTL=242

Ping statistics for 72.14.207.99: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 120ms, Maximum = 131ms, Average = 124ms

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Reply to
Herosmantle
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That can be in two differnt places.

  1. The wireless link.
  2. The internet link. I can't tell which one if you ping through the router. The next time you get a ping failure, also ping 192.168.1.254 which is the IP address of the router. If that also returns ping failures, then your problem is on the wireless side. Might as well start now. Run: start -> run -> cmd ping -t 192.168.1.254 Let it run for a few minutes.
  3. Are all the lantency times roughly the same or are they all over the place in value? If they vary widely, you're seeing some packet loss, probably caused by interference from other networks. See the list at:

for a shopping list of probable culprits.

  1. If the wireless appears to NOT be the problem, plug your computah into the router with a CAT5 cable. No wireless. Try pinging some well connected web site at your ISP. That will minimize the chances that you have some form of network constipation. Don't ignore this part as I can see problems with your abreviated ping report below.

Perhaps it also doesn't happen none of the time? Any pattern? Any particular duration? Any particular time of day? Numbers please.

I can tell you're a Windoze user. I think the official slogan is: "Windoze. What do you want to reinstall today". It does work, but some diagnostics are usually helpful. Vista has a nice collection of wireless diagnostics. See:

for Vista Wireless Diagnostics.

Which one of the 4 different Vista mutations?

Have you checked for the lastest firmware?

I can't check if this is the latest version without knowing the maker and model number of the wireless card, and maker and model number of the computer it's stuffed into.

I see you've discovered Vista does a crappy job of implimenting DHCP and are using pre-assigned DHCP. See:

for some fixes.

Big problem above. You're losing packets and the latency is far too high. It should 1 or 2 msec, not an average of 26msec. I see you've gotten a few at the correct 1msec, so there's probably nothing wrong with the wireless setup, config, or installation. However, you're also getting a large number of lost packets (16%) and very large latency values. These are clear indications of interference.

Try a different RF channel and see if that helps. Move the access point away from a window, where interference might enter. Check if anyone is running a microwave oven or cordless 2.4GHz phone. If you have a directional antenna on the access point, move it to where it is least likely to point to a source of interference.

Well, that's another problem. No way should Google return 120msec unless you're on a slow dialup. I just tried it and got a more realistic 11msec latency via a 1500/256kbit/sec DSL connection. Your numbers could be due to the wireless latency. The only way to be sure is to plug in a computah into the router, eliminate the wireless as a source of additional delays and retest.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Also, try this incantation: start -> run -> cmd netsh wlan show networks netsh wlan show networks mode="bssid"

If you have any nearby networks that happen to be broadcasting their SSID, this command will show them. (It's the same as "Show available networks").

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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