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What does "General failure" mean when pinging (in this case, the router)? I am connected via ethernet and have tried different wires, no change. The router seems to act fine with everyone else. The error is random and happens about every other ping.

This is on a Win7 PC and I did try disabling IPv6 but that didn't help. Tried turning my firewall off as well, still no change.

Yes, pinging 127.0.0.1 also gives the error. The problem started when my ISP gave me a new router, but it didn't work so I went back to my old router.

Pinging ::1 does not seem to give the error.

Zeno
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  • It means something is wrong with your IP driver stack. Give us some problem history. Can the system get Internet access at all? How did the problem start? – David Schwartz Feb 16 '13 at 16:08
  • Try to ping 127.0.0.1, if there is problem, somethings wrong with your network card or it's drivers. – tikend Feb 16 '13 at 16:10
  • I got the same error when I tried pinging something the the LAN disabled. Check Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections and see if you have a red cross next to the NIC. [Edit] Even with the NIC disabled I could still ping localhost. – Hennes Feb 16 '13 at 16:11
  • See also http://superuser.com/questions/433416/why-do-i-get-general-failure-when-pinging-host-name-on-a-win-7-node-on-the-net – Hennes Feb 16 '13 at 16:18
  • Just an idea: can you `ping ::1` ? – Hennes Feb 16 '13 at 16:25
  • Since ::1 worked (and thus IPv6 is still active), can you try the first two fixes (50410 or 50409) in this webpage http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852 . Adding the routing tables or ipconfig /all to the OP might also help diagnose it. – Hennes Feb 16 '13 at 16:32
  • @Hennes I just ran 50409, restarted and I can still ping `::1` – Zeno Feb 16 '13 at 16:36
  • That is *uhm, interesting*. Not sure how that is possible unless Microsoft hardcoded localhost rather then using the network stack. It also means I am out of ideas. :( – Hennes Feb 16 '13 at 16:40
  • @Hennes: **It's not hardcoded anywhere.** The network stack is always up even if you don't have any physical NICs active – you will always have **a "Loopback" interface** with 127.0.0.1 and ::1 assigned to it. – u1686_grawity Feb 16 '13 at 18:02
  • I can delete it though. "C:\Windows\system32>route delete ::1/128" "OK!" "C:\Windows\system32>ping ::1" "Pinging ::1 with 32 bytes of data:" "PING: transmit failed. General failure." – Hennes Feb 16 '13 at 18:05

3 Answers3

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General Failure implies a problem relating to your network card. The problem is either that your network card is failing, or, more likely, the TCP stack associated with your network card is corrupt or configured incorrectly. (It means the problem is NOT a routing problem, rather a problem getting the packets out your card).

davidgo
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For me it was about VPN being on. When I remembered that and turned it off, the errors were gone.

Though for me, every ping resulted in general failure, not just some of them.

eis
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I had this ping General Failure error. Some sites worked fine but VPN sites did not. I had a manual value in a metric field but using an automatic instantly fixed tracert and ping problems.

Network Sharing Center / Change Adapter Settings / Ethernet interface / IP4 / Properties, Advanced setting / [x]Automatic metric

Whome
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