In some cases, ping requests fail. This happens for any of several reasons:
- the IP address specified to the ping program is invalid
- the host system (device being used to send pings) is not connected to an IP network (i.e., does not have a working IP address)
- no network device is connected to the target IP address
- network congestion or errors in between the host and target are preventing messages from passing through (in one or both directions)
The graphic below illustrates a typical ping session when the program does not receive any responses from the target IP address. Each "Reply from" line takes several seconds to appear on the screen as the program waits and eventually times out. The IP address referenced in each reply line of the output is the address of the pinging (host) computer.
Intermittent Ping Responses
Though uncommon, it is possible for ping to report a response rate other than 0% (fully unresponsive) or 100% (fully responsive). This most often occurs when the target system is shutting down (as in the example shown) or starting up:
C:\> ping bwmitche-home1
Pinging bwmitche-home1 [192.168.0.8] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.8: bytes=32 time=<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.8: bytes=32 time=<10ms TTL=128
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 2, Lost = 2 (50% loss),
