Running A Pathping Test
Keywords: pathping, disconnect, connection, patch, patching, ISP, path ping, packet loss…
What is a pathping?
A pathping is a tool used to check for losses of network packet integrity between your computer and our servers. As online games are extremely sensitive to packet or data loss, running a pathping is a great way to discover connection issues that may not show up in latency tests like trace routes.
Running a pathping
1. Click Start
2. Depending on OS-
Windows XP: Click Run.
Windows Vista: Click the Start Search text field.
Windows 7: Click in the Search for Programs and Files text field.
3. Depending on OS-
Windows XP: Type CMD and press Enter.
Windows Vista/7: Type CMD. Right-click on the first result, cmd.exe, and select Run as Administrator.
4. In the command window, type the following:
pathping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx > c:\pathping.txt
Replace the string of x with a server address related to the game connection being tested and press Enter. The list of server addresses for our various games is below.
List of Server AddressesStarCraft II 12.129.202.154
World of Warcraft Get your realm's IP address from Wowpedia
Diablo III
US - 12.129.209.68
EU - 213.155.155.233
KR - 182.162.134.1
Legacy (Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft) uswest.battle.net
useast.battle.net
asia.battle.net
europe.battle.net
6. A file will be created on your C: drive called "pathping.txt" that contains the pathping information. Please be patient while waiting for the pathping command to complete; it will take several minutes to finish unless an error occurs. You will know it is done when the command prompt reappears.
Reading a pathping
The first block of data that a pathping shows is essentially a mini trace route. Skip that section and look at the second block of data with the percentages.
A clean pathping will have nothing but 0% from your computer to the last hop before our servers. Anything other than 0% indicates loss of packet integrity.
Our servers, usually identified as "attens.net" scramble pathping data once it reaches them. You can disregard any data which typically shows as 100% packet loss once the pathping reaches that point.
If there is consistent packet loss of 1% or more at your router or modem, usually hops zero and one, these components either need a firmware update or have become faulty and will need to be replaced. Packet loss anywhere else along the route should be reported to your ISP. Making a post of your pathping data on our tech forums will alert us of the ISP issue as well, and is much appreciated.
Here is a sample pathping test:
Note. This pathping is for teaching purposes only, and does not indicate any past or current ISP issues.
