Re: "General Failure" When pinging

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:46:23 -0500, Herosmantle
<Herosmantle.30etqn@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> wrote:

>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.

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 <enter>
ping -t 192.168.1.254
Let it run for a few minutes.
1. 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:
<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Interference>
for a shopping list of probable culprits.
2. 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.

>The problem doesnt seem to happen all the time,

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

>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:

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:
<http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/3ed3d027-5ae8-4cb0-ade5-0a7c446cd4f71033.mspx?mfr=true>
for Vista Wireless Diagnostics.

>_OPERATING_SYSTEM_
>Windows Vista 32 bit

Which one of the 4 different Vista mutations?

>_ROUTER_
>SpeedTouch 585v6

Have you checked for the lastest firmware?

>_NETWORK_ADAPTER_
>*Name:* Atheros AR5006EG Wireless Network Adapter
>DRIVER VERSION:[/b] 7.3.1.109

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.

>IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.65(Preferred)

I see you've discovered Vista does a crappy job of implimenting DHCP
and are using pre-assigned DHCP. See:
<http://groups.google.com/group/alt.internet.wireless/msg/cd8d480583867ee3>
for some fixes.

>_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

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.

>_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

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.


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS