First ping always fail with "General failure" or "Request timed out"

I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 and this problem has puzzled me for a while. No matter which address I ping, first ping always fails. Any advice of what to check?

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=41
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=41
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=41

Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
General failure.
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Pinging 192.168.17.10 with 32 bytes of data:
General failure.
Reply from 192.168.17.10: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.17.10: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.17.10: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

gonzalezea

Posted 2014-07-25T14:33:05.050

Reputation: 111

Do you have more than one interface configured? Do you have more than one default gateway configured? Your question doesn't tell us anything about your network setup? Is it just a purely conventional setup with a single SoHo router? – David Schwartz – 2014-07-25T15:32:22.010

Mathias thx for editing, shame on me for not reading posting rules (some of us have a user soul deep inside). @David yes I have 2 real nic & 1 virtual (VirtualBox), 1 real connected directly to ISP, 1 real to another ISP (Through internal wifi) – gonzalezea – 2014-07-25T20:08:05.077

@gonzalezea That's probably why. A configuration like that won't work without policy routing on the PC or a dual-WAN router implementing policy routing. – David Schwartz – 2014-07-26T17:38:32.860

Answers

The only thing I can assume is that it is an ARP issue.

If you PC has no details to what you're trying to connect to, the first thing it will do is work out the ip address from the DNS entry, but in order to start sending traffic, it also needs it's MAC address, this is done using an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) Request.

Once it has the MAC address, it puts it into the ARP cache (on the local machine) and uses it to send traffic, if for some reason it takes a long time then the first packet (of a ping) might be dropped.

If this keps happening every time you ping the same address, there might be a problem with your ARP cache, either its corrupt or missing, or windows cannot access it properly.

To check your local arp cache, type

arp -a

into a command prompt with admin privileges, try checking it before and after a successful ping attempt to see if ARP is being cached properly.

YetiFiasco

Posted 2014-07-25T14:33:05.050

Reputation: 510

Interesting. I would have never thought this was the cause. A potential solution based on this could be in form of a network driver update, right? I find it hard to believe that it is hardware related. – Mathias Lykkegaard Lorenzen – 2014-07-25T14:58:58.033

1Honestly, this is just how ARP works, as a network engineer, seeing the first ping fail then the rest succeed is normal to me and shows that ARP is working as expected, the problem is if it continues to do it to the same address. This problem shouldn't actually affect your network speed or give you any real traffic loss. – YetiFiasco – 2014-07-25T15:01:04.500

I don't doubt that sometimes Windows behave erratically, but always delay resolving 127.0.0.1? arp -a doesn't shows MAC from external resolved addresses ex. 8.8.8.8 – gonzalezea – 2014-07-25T20:29:37.647

Than it looks like you have a problem storing MAC addresses, search for answers related to "ARP cache not storing mac addresses". – YetiFiasco – 2014-07-28T08:08:50.353

I have a Lenovo computer with this problem. Perhaps it applies to others as well. First Ping always giving me a Request Timeout.

Cause: Wifi power setting when not plugged in.

Solution was power settings:

Control Panel
- Power Options
  - Advanced Settings
    - Wireless Adapter Settings
      - On Battery
        
        Set to MAX PERFORMANCE.

TerenceW

Posted 2014-07-25T14:33:05.050

Reputation: 1