You don’t have to be an IT expert to troubleshoot pesky network and Internet connection problems. All you need is the Command Prompt utility. Any computer users familiar with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 recognize it. Well, that utility hasn’t gone away; it’s still around, just hidden in the background.
Here’s how to access it, and how to troubleshoot basic network problems from your computer.
Press the Windows key on your keyboard. Type the text cmd in the search box – in XP this is called “Run” – and press Enter.
Here’s what should appear:
Basic rule of troubleshooting: always start with the closest possible source. You need to check your own computer for network connectivity first. Type ping 127.0.0.1 and press Enter. Your Command Prompt window should look like this if your computer’s network card has no problems:
You’ve just sent four requests for dummy data to your computer’s “loopback” IP address and it (hopefully) replied to each one. An IP address is a unique tag for your computer that tells the server where to send data; the loopback address is used for testing your computer’s network card. If there were intermittent problems or if your card were completely non-functional, the ping would have experienced some loss.
The next step up the chain is your default gateway, which is in most cases the network router. Any data entering or exiting the network has to pass through the router. To diagnose the router, you need to ping its IP address. Type ipconfig at the command prompt and look for the entry next to “Default Gateway.”
Now, ping your router the same way you pinged the loopback address: type ping <your default gateway>. In this example, you’re pinging the default gateway at 10.0.0.1. If the connection between your computer and the router is strong and stable, all four of your data packets should get a response. If not, your router has connectivity problems. As a note, wireless connections are prone to drop signal, so keep that in mind when working with a wireless router.
Let’s say you’ve tested your computer and router and that everything checks out, but you still can’t connect to a webpage. So, perform the ping test on it. Let’s use Yahoo! for an example:
Yahoo! works. Just to be sure, do another ping test, this time to Google:
Google’s homepage checks out. If you were able to ping two remote sites successfully, you don’t have a problem with your network or Internet connection.
~Michael Smathers
Tags: command prompt, Internet, ipconfig, network, network ping, troubleshooting
Really great Info. Would use this article to troubleshoot my computer connection issues.
I tried the two tests and the gateway test was fine but the first test for my computer said “Request timed out” all four times. What does this mean and should I be concerned?
I did this just as you instructed and I have bellsouth.net and there was a problem can i send you a screen shot of the results and you tell me what I should do please? I don’t know what to tell bellsouth when I call them because I have been trying to tell them there is a problem for almost 1 1/2 years and they always tell me there is no problem that it’s just traffic. I am not an expert at this just an old woman so please want you help me with this? It would be much appreciated. Thank you, Mattie
Ken, I had a similar experience and I found out I typed a wrong digit as part of the gateway address.After making sure I typed the correct numbers in the address, everything came out fine without the “Request timed out”.Try and type your correct gateway address and see if you have the same info.
I also keep a short list of several common ipaddresses for sites like google.com, yahoo.com, etc. That way, I can ping the ipaddress directly to be reasonably sure that there is not a problem with the DNS, DNScache, or a virus that might re-direct by a virus or hijacker.