tracert command returns timed out

Raghav picture Raghav · Jun 28, 2013 · Viewed 91.4k times · Source

tracert returns requested time out. What I understand from this is the packets lost some where on the network.

Does it mean the issue is with the ISP or with the hosting provider or my windows system?

10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

The first 9 were successful.

Answer

John Faulkner picture John Faulkner · Jun 28, 2013

I can't see the first 9 hops but if they are all the same then you may have a firewall configuration issue that prevents the packets from either getting out or getting back.

Try again turning off your firewall (temporarily!). The other option is that your ISP may drop ICMP traffic as a matter of course, or only when they are busy with other traffic.

ICMP (the protocol used by traceroute) is of the lowest priority, and when higher priority traffic is ongoing the router may be configured to simply drop ICMP packets. There is also the possibility that the ISP drops all ICMP packets as a matter of security since many DOS (Denial of Service) attacks are based on probing done with ICMP packets.