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(sorry, i think my jargon is a bit off there, not sure)

I'm trying to work out what's going on with my podcasts not downloading properly, to see whether it was my pod-catching software or the connection i tried doing a ping on the podcast URL e.g. www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/ockham.xml and it failed (i got "could not find host"), it works for the first part of it though www.abc.net.au

I can get to the xml page in a web browser though, and ping doesn't work on the podcasts which have been downloading right either.

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  • ok that's odd, when i ping it without the www it gives me a number-style IP address and it times out, when i add the www it gives me a different number string and works
    – Kirt
    Jan 9, 2011 at 13:31

4 Answers 4

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You can only ping hosts. They are who answers to ping requests. What you see in the web address is the protocol, the host and the path. You should send the ping requests to the host, like you did.

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You can only ping the domain name/IP address - i.e. the host.

So

ping www.bbc.co.uk

or

ping 212.58.244.68

will work, but nothing else.

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    It is also often the case that remote hosts will block/refuse ping requests so even if a ping to a name/IP fails, it does not meant the problem is at the host end.
    – BBlake
    Jan 8, 2011 at 19:53
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No.

You can only ping an IP address, not a name. If you can get to the page in a web browser, the page is up and your problem is elsewhere.

To test your connection, try the following:

  1. Start the podcast download.
  2. Open a command prompt window and enter 'ping -t abc.net.au' and hit enter

If the ping drops, your connection is dropping and your download may time out or fail.

To see where the problem is:

  1. Open a command prompt and type 'tracert abc.net.au' and hit enter

The results of this test will show you where the connection between you and the server is slow.

If you're running A/V software, anti-malware software, or a software firewall, any of those applications could be the culprit. Update them first; if no joy, disable them temporarily and try your download again (ONLY IF YOU TRUST IT). Protection software has become so incredibly complex that it often fails.

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Just the IP address, actually. Which has nothing to do with HTTP, so it can't tell you if the machine is running a web server at all, and vice versa. The name server you're using just happens to provide an IP address for a hostname you give it.

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