Cannot ping specific Server

Question

I have a connectivity problem.   I have various Dell Poweredge servers (2003 server, Firewall disabled), Dell Powerconnect switches(3348), and Dell 4300 PCs (XP, Firewall disabled) with 3Com network cards(3c905-TX).    There is one specific PC that cannot ping a specific server.  When I try the ping by name the DNS server resolves the name and sends out the ARP broadcast which returns the MAC address.  The ping then says request timed out.    This PC can connect to all other PCs and servers on the network and all other PCs on the network can ping this server.  I have tried pinging from the server also, which did not work.  I have also tried clearing the ARP cache on the server and the PC and hard booting  the Powerconnect Switch, the PC and the server.  No luck.  I have replaced the network card in the PC.  No luck.  I have also tried a system restore on the PC to before the problem started.  I have quite a bit of experience in network administration, but I am at a dead end.  Anyone got any ideas?

jwatt · Answer

whistlerski, Have you tried putting a sniffer ( Ethereal, for example), on the unruly PC and looking at all the traffic that occurs during the incident? Jim

whistlerski · Answer

Thanks for replying to my message!

Yes, I have ethereal installed and I have captured the network traffic.

Originating IP is 192.168.1.73
Destination IP is 192.168.1.232

This is what happens when I ping from the Originating IP to the Destination IP

When the 192.168.1.73 sends the ARP broadcast asking who is 192.168.1.232 there is a response from 192.168.1.232 incidating its MAC address. A few seconds later the ARP broadcast is just sent again. If my network card can hear the ARP response then it makes me think that something in the OS is dropping the packet from the Destination IP. Otherwise the MAC should go into the ARP table of the Originating PC and the ICMP Ping request should be sent next. This ICMP Ping request never gets sent.

I have tried adding static arp entries on the Originaing IP and the Desination IP at which time the Ethereal shows that ICMP ping requests are sent to the Destination IP and a response is also sent from the Destination IP. When I look in the results of my ping in the command prompt window it says request timed out. This is very peculiar to me.

Aargh!

jwatt · Answer

whistlerski,

So, in summary, the ARP broadcast is sent out by the problem machine, the reply comes back and is seen by Ethereal, but not by the machine's network stack!

If my network card can hear the ARP response then it makes me think that something in the OS is dropping the packet from the Destination IP. Otherwise the MAC should go into the ARP table of the Originating PC and the ICMP Ping request should be sent next.

Exactly. I can't think of anything that would block traffic from a single IP address other than a firewall-like setting somewhere on the problem machine. Is anything set under Advanced TCP/IP Settings/Options...like TCP/IP filtering, maybe?

This is certainly a strange one!

Jim

whistlerski · Answer

Yes, sadly I have given up.  I have talked to all my contacts, and nobody can figure it out.  I have decided to wipe the system and start over.  Thanks for your help. Damon

markdward · Answer

Did you by chance attempt to reset the TCIP stack?  Found this in MS KB.  Having very similiar problem, haven't attempted reset as yet.

whistlerski · Answer

Yes, I did try that. Apparently you cannot remove TCP/IP from recent versions of microsoft OS. When you reset the TCP stack it resets the TCP/IP settings to the installation values in the registry. I tried it but it did not help with my problem.

Thanks

Damon

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Cannot ping specific Server

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