The ping command is a very common method for troubleshooting the accessibility of devices between two endpoints. This utility uses a series of Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo messages to determine whether a remote host is active or inactive, the round-trip delay in communicating with the host, and packet loss. The ping command first sends an echo request packet to an address and then waits for a reply. The ping is successful only if the echo request gets to the destination, and the destination gets an echo reply back to the source within a predetermined time called a timeout. In this guide, you will learn what the following error message means “Transit Failed, General Failure, Request timed out and Destination Host unreachable”.
More on the Ping Utility!
When someone faces problems with network connectivity, the first thing he has to do is to ping the destination address to check the connectivity. Here are some related articles: Ping request could not find the host. Why can’t I ping the Public IP Address of an EC2 instance? And how to resolve requests timed out when pinging and how to create a Firewall rule.
The ping utility is available to these platforms Windows, Linux, and macOS as a network administration tool. As well as networking platforms such as Cisco, Cisco ASA, etc.
The below error messages will be prompted and without a good understanding of this, you may never be able to resolve this. Because of this, I have decided to discuss these details.
PS C:\administrador> ping 192.168.178.5 -t Pinging 192.168.178.5 with 32 bytes of data: Request timed out. Request timed out. Reply from 192.168.178.5: Destination host unreachable. Reply from 192.168.178.5: Destination host unreachable. Request timed out. Reply from 192.168.178.5: Destination host unreachable. Reply from 192.168.178.5: Destination host unreachable. Reply from 192.168.178.5: Destination host unreachable. Request timed out. Reply from 192.168.178.5: Destination host unreachable.
Request timed out and Destination Host Unreachable, Transit Failed, General Failure
In this section, we will be discussing network connectivity issues. As discussed above, the ping utility is used for troubleshooting and pinging the destination address to check the connectivity. Therefore, understanding the meaning of the various error messages is key in pinpointing and troubleshooting issues and bottlenecks.
Destination Host Unreachable
This message indicates one of two problems. Either the local system has no route to the desired destination or a remote router reports that it has no route to the destination. If the message is simply “Destination Host Unreachable,” then there is no route from the local system, and the packets to be sent were never put on the wire.
Request Timed Out
This message indicates that no Echo Reply messages were received within the default time of 1 second. This can be due to many different causes; the most common include network congestion, failure of the ARP request, packet filtering, routing error, or a silent discard.
Request timed out means that the local host did not receive a response from the destination host, but it was able to reach it. Destination host unreachable means that there was no valid route to the requested host. Here is a guide on how to ping in the Cisco packet tracer and solve ping requests timed out
Transit Failed, General Failure
This error indicates many issues such as not having the ethernet cable plugged in, Network card-related issues. It could also be driver-related issues with the NIC, or the NIC has been disabled.
PS C:\administrador> ping 192.168.178.5 -t PING: transmit failed. General failure. PING: transmit failed. General failure.
Note: You may have to reset the Device’s TCP/IP Address and if the issue is cable related, then this alone will not resolve it. I advice, take a look at this article for tips to resolve this issue.
Also When prompted with the Ping: Transit Failed and General Failure errors and the above-mentioned errors do not apply to you. Simply have the DNS flushed. For more information, see DNS Error: How to fix Err Connection Timed Out Error.
I hope you found this blog post helpful. Now, you have learned about the Ping utility output “Transit Failed, General Failure, Request timed out and Destination Host unreachable”. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.