Usage
Category Articles
Packet loss or latency at intermediate hops.
Viewed 140022 times since April 12, 2004
Question I'm seeing packet loss at one hop in PingPlotter. What does it mean? Solution There are numerous reasons why packet loss (as seen in the above screenshot at hops 2 and 4) occurs: Insufficient bandwidth; network connection...
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One poorly responding router
Viewed 85217 times since October 15, 2003
Question Why does one particular hop in the route often show a really bad time (or doesn't respond at all) - but the hop right after it performs well? Solution Some routers just don't prioritize timed out ICMP...
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Troubleshooting iRacing latency/quality problems.
Viewed 82903 times since October 2, 2009
Question I often have network problems in iRacing. The lag indicator will show high latency, or the quality indicator shows problems. How do I find the source of the problem? Solution Of course, you were 1/2 lap ahead 45 minutes into a...
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How do I pinpoint the problem?
Viewed 67121 times since November 14, 2005
Question What kind of conditions should I be looking for in PingPlotter? I get occasional timeouts in applications I'm using - how do I know what's causing those problems? Solution Ideally, you're looking to correlate a performance...
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All intermediate hops show 100% packet loss
Viewed 50668 times since August 23, 2004
Question My route is 11 hops long, but hops 1-10 show 100% packet loss (and no IP Address or DNS Names) and only the final destination shows anything. What's causing this? Solution The final destination reports back with an ICMP echo reply,...
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Destination Unreachable
Viewed 49849 times since October 15, 2003
Question Why do traces to some sites always return 'Destination Address Unreachable'. I can connect to that site fine with Internet Explorer/Firefox/Chrome! Solution One of the routers used between you and the destination site is not...
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How do I set up PingPlotter to use TCP packets?
Viewed 47640 times since November 23, 2005
Question The target I'm tracing to doesn't respond in PingPlotter, but it works just fine in my browser. Is there any way to access it? Solution By default, PingPlotter uses ICMP echo requests - which are sometimes blocked by target...
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Blank / missing hop (Router)
Viewed 45128 times since October 15, 2003
Question Why do I sometimes see blank lines in the graph display? There's a hop number but no IP address, etc. listed. Solution The absence of an IP address (and 100% packet loss) for a specific hop means that no router has responded for that...
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Should I trust my PingPlotter results? (Definitely)
Viewed 39307 times since September 14, 2005
Question I sent my PingPlotter graphs and information to our network administrators and they responded that traceroute is not an accurate way of troubleshooting networks. They say that the first slow hop is the weakest link and invalidates any other...
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All hops show 100% packet loss
Viewed 38959 times since May 8, 2004
Question When I try to trace to a destination with PingPlotter, and I get "Destination Address Unreachable" at hop #1. How do I correct this situation? Solution With the advent of internet security threats, many firewalls lock down all outgoing...
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Initial hop(s) 100% packet loss
Viewed 33769 times since October 15, 2003
Question Why does hop 1 (or any number of initial hops) lose packets 100% of the time? Solution Often your local router/modem just doesn't respond to ICMP requests (more specifically, it doesn't create ICMP TTL Expired packets). This...
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Time graph packet loss height
Viewed 32148 times since October 30, 2003
Question Why do the red "packet loss" lines have different vertical heights on the graph? Solution Each "pixel" in the time-graph is comprised of anywhere from 1 to many samples. When you're looking at 5 minutes of data in a Timeline Graph, any...
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Long term monitoring and auto-saving of data.
Viewed 30043 times since April 29, 2005
Question I'd like to configure PingPlotter to run continously. Are there any guidelines on how to configure PingPlotter to auto-save data? Solution Note: The following information applies to versions 4.12.0 and older of PingPlotter. Version 5...
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Moving PingPlotter to a new machine.
Viewed 29351 times since March 19, 2008
Question I'm moving PingPlotter to a new machine. What do I need to move? Solution Depending on how you're using PingPlotter and what platform you’re on, there are a few possible files and configurations that need to be moved....
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PingPlotter doesn’t match command line ping
Viewed 29228 times since January 4, 2005
Question A 'pure ping' (command line) using -t switch shows no problems, but PingPlotter shows many packet losses. What would cause that? Solution First, make sure that you’re comparing the results from the final destination of...
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Exporting / analysis in Excel
Viewed 29200 times since October 21, 2003
Question How do I export data from PingPlotter into Excel, and then see the average times and packet loss? Solution PingPlotter allows you to export data to a text file (File -> Export to text file), which you can then import into a...
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Aliasing / labeling an IP Address
Viewed 29009 times since January 20, 2004
Question Can I associate a 'friendly name' with an IP Address? The automatic name doesn't really help identify a target. Solution Yes, you can! Both PingPlotter and MultiPing offer a mechanism for associating a friendly name with an...
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PingPlotter port use
Viewed 28450 times since February 16, 2005
Question I need to configure my firewall to not block PingPlotter data. Which ports do I need to open? Solution PingPlotter's port use varies depending on the packet type. We'll discuss the 3 primary packet types and the ports / protocols...
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Slow first ping, faster following
Viewed 27624 times since January 4, 2005
Question The first ping that I send somewhere is always slow the first time, then every subsequent time it is significantly better (the first hop is really fast; its the first ping that is slow). My first pings run 300-500 ms, then subsequent ones...
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Running behind a proxy server
Viewed 23840 times since October 15, 2003
Question I'm using a proxy server. Why can't I see anything beyond the proxy server with PingPlotter? Solution If your internet connection is being shared through a traditional proxy server (which is becoming less and less popular since...
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Using PingPlotter to troubleshoot World of Warcraft
Viewed 21893 times since March 28, 2009
Question I'm having lag in World of Warcraft. How do I find my server, and how do I trace to it? Solution PingPlotter can trace to World of Warcraft servers! Here are some tips and links on how to make that work. Finding your server's IP...
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Exporting data
Viewed 19886 times since October 15, 2003
Question When I export to a text file, some lines end with * - which seems to mean no response. I also get a few that end with N/A. What does that mean? Solution The * indicates a lost packet. The N/A means that that router wasn't participating...
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Troubleshooting VPNs with PingPlotter
Viewed 19808 times since August 13, 2004
Question Can PingPlotter be used to troubleshoot problems in a VPN (Virtual Private Network)? Solution PingPlotter primary purpose is to troubleshoot network bottlenecks, and a VPN bottleneck is definitely one that many people have used PingPlotter...
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Gray periods in the timeline graph.
Viewed 18666 times since August 23, 2004
Question I have gray periods in the timeline graph. What does that mean? Solution A gray (ie: background) period in a time graph means that PingPlotter didn't expect any data from that host during that timeframe (think "disabled"). There...
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Destination Address Unreachable with dial-up modem
Viewed 18562 times since November 24, 2003
Question I have both a cable modem (ethernet interface) and dialup connection. PingPlotter works great on the cable modem connection but I can't get it to work on a dial up connection. I know it's working because I can browse the net with...
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Does PingPlotter work in a virtual machine environment?
Viewed 17866 times since June 5, 2014
Question Can I run PingPlotter in a virtual machine environment such as Parallels, or VMware? Answer Absolutely! We've tested our products pretty thoroughly in both Parallels, and VMware - without any sort of issues. That being said - some...
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Tracing to multiple destinations
Viewed 16818 times since October 15, 2003
Question I would like to use PingPlotter Standard to monitor more than one destination. Is that possible? Solution If you're running version 4, any one instance of PingPlotter Standard can only trace to a single destination. If you'...
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Changing a target name
Viewed 16818 times since February 4, 2009
Question When I trace to a target (usually by entering an IP address), it shows up with a name that isn't very helpful. Is there any way to change that? Solution Yup. There are several possibilities here. When entering the target IP address,...
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PingPlotter Standard as a service with FireDaemon
Viewed 16715 times since February 11, 2008
Question I'd like to have PingPlotter Standard running continuously - even when I'm not logged in. Is this possible? Solution PingPlotter Pro runs natively as a Windows Service (for more details, see here), but PingPlotter...
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Router problems with outstanding requests.
Viewed 16641 times since December 15, 2003
Question My router is showing odd packet loss numbers that TRACERT doesn't show. I've heard of problems with this router servicing multiple oustanding ICMP echo requests. How can I configure PingPlotter to only do one oustanding packet at a...
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Problems with ESET Security Suite 4.0
Viewed 15935 times since June 9, 2009
Question I just installed ESET Security Suite 4.0, and now PingPlotter (and/or MultiPing) won't work. What do I need to do to fix this? Solution There are several solutions to this problem. ESET doesn't like the extra 'padding' we...
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What does "New route changes logged" mean?
Viewed 15420 times since November 16, 2006
Question I'm seeing a message on the left that shows 'New Route Changes Logged'. What does that mean? SolutionImportant note: The following information currently only applies to versions 4.12.0 and older of PingPlotter. PingPlotter...
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TCP Packets are not working well.
Viewed 15242 times since November 22, 2005
Question I'm using TCP packets and I'm having some problems. What settings should I use? Solution Packet Size Native TCP SYN packets are 40 bytes. PingPlotter allows you to manipulate this and create larger packets, but these...
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Ping times - should they add up?
Viewed 14922 times since October 15, 2003
Question The ping times don't always seem to add up logically to me. For example, I commonly see the average time for a single hop being longer than the total return trip number. This doesn't make sense to me. Solution The latencies ...
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Different sources show different results at same target.
Viewed 13482 times since January 4, 2005
Question A colleague and I are pinging the same website from different locations (geographically, we are about 30 miles apart, both pinging a server about 1500 miles away) at 15-second intervals. Oddly, I will show a whole spurt of packets dropped...
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Why am I seeing route changes?
Viewed 12099 times since December 27, 2005
Question Why am I seeing continual route changes when I run PingPlotter? There also are 10-50% packet loses on various hops. This doesn't seem to manifest itself when I download files. I am connected to Qwest DSL via a Cisco 678 router. ...
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Problems sending emails from PingPlotter’s file menu
Viewed 11944 times since December 28, 2009
Question I'm trying to send an email via the PingPlotter File -> Send Email option, but I'm getting errors. (General MAPI failure, MAPI Error, etc). Solution It sounds like you probably don't have an email client installed...
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Opening .pp2 files generated by PingPlotter version 4 in older versions of the program
Viewed 11916 times since April 17, 2015
Solution In order to accommodate some new features like IPv6 compatibility and unicode character support, PingPlotter version 4 creates .pp2 files a bit differently than older versions of the program. Older versions of the program can'...
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Some columns not visible on trace graph.
Viewed 11815 times since December 27, 2005
Question How do I set up the trace graph so I can see the average, maximum, minimum, packet loss percentage, etc? I had them visible once and now I seem to have lost them. Solution Do a mouse 'right-click' anywhere on the upper graph...
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Where do I start?
Viewed 11363 times since October 14, 2003
Question I have PingPlotter installed. Now what do I do? I don't have a clue how to get started. Solution The first place you should look is our getting started guide which has an introduction to use, plus hands-on examples and exercises to...
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Auto-saving of images
Viewed 10777 times since October 15, 2003
Question Can I auto-save graph images from PingPlotter for use on a web page, for FTP transfer, etc.? Solution Note: The following information currently applies to versions 4.12.0 and older of PingPlotter. Yes, PingPlotter supports saving of images...
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Identifying culprits by correlating PingPlotter "problem" patterns with network use.
Viewed 6866 times since January 24, 2014
Question I'm consistently seeing network problems on the first hop, which is inside my provider's network. How do I know what's causing it? Solution (Note that this might apply to hop 2, 3 or 4 - if it's the first hop inside your...
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Troubleshooting Packet Loss Across all hops
Viewed 6540 times since October 9, 2020
Question I am seeing packet loss at all hops. Where do I even start? Solution There are a few different issues that could be generating this result. First, it may be an issue that starts at your first hop (often your router) and goes...
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