Hello everyone..... I'm a bit new to the whole concept of using the traceroute command and have run into a question that I have been unable to find the answer for by searching about (here and the rest of the net)..... every tracert I am running is consistently timing out on the first hop and then running relatively fine from there...... I had a tracert run back to my IP and it in turn timed out once reaching the same spot in route..... I am understanding that this is a problem on my end of things, but I am having a difficulty determining what the problem is..... I have a single computer (running Windows XP sp2 installed) connected directly to  the cable modem (Scientific-Atlanta DPC2100 under Comcast HSI service), so there isn't a router causing the problem..... I do run a software firewall (Zone Alarm v 5.1.033 alone without XP firewall), but the problem still exists with it turned off..... what other things do I need to consider at this point..? wiring perhaps...?  thank you in advance for any insight you can provide....

Hi mushroomlife:
I would suggest trying the tracert without the firewall as a start.
you can do a tracert from the following site & see if it times out from there 
  http://centralops.net/co/
I f it is your firewall you probably need to allow ICMP or at least the ones you want to allow.I don't know if zone alarm has this setting .You might try using Sygate personal firewall if  disconecting Zone Alarm corrects the problem & if it doesn't allow you to allow the ICMP.I have seen some post problems with zone alarm.
Thats about all I can help you with.        Cholla

Thank you for your responses....... the results I get are the same with or without the firewall loaded..... this is the traceroute I get from Centralops.net with ZA enabled:

hop     rtt     rtt     rtt           ip address     domain name
1    0    0    0         216.46.228.229    port-216-3073253-es128.devices.datareturn.com
2    0    0    0         64.29.192.145    port-64-1949841-zzt0prespect.devices.datareturn.com
3    0    0    0         64.29.192.226    daa.g921.ispb.datareturn.com
4    0    0    0         168.215.241.133    hagg-01-ae0-1001.dlfw.twtelecom.net
5    0    0    0         66.192.253.124    core-02-ge-0-3-1-504.dlfw.twtelecom.net
6    0    0    0         168.215.54.74    tran-02-ge-0-3-0-0.dlfw.twtelecom.net
7    10    0    0         66.192.242.130    
8    0    0    0         12.122.12.93    tbr2-p012402.dlstx.ip.att.net
9    30    30    30         12.122.10.89    tbr2-cl6.sl9mo.ip.att.net
10    30    30    30         12.122.10.45    tbr2-cl7.cgcil.ip.att.net
11    30    30    30         12.123.6.14    gar4-p390.cgcil.ip.att.net
12    40    40    30         12.118.239.38    
13    30    40    40         68.87.63.4    srp-8-1-ur01.macomb.mi.mich.Comcast.net
14    *    *    *            
15    *    *    *            
16    *    *    *            
17    *    *    *            

Trace aborted

-- end --

same place with firewall disabled:

hop     rtt     rtt     rtt           ip address     domain name
1    0    0    0         216.46.228.229    port-216-3073253-es128.devices.datareturn.com
2    0    0    0         64.29.192.145    port-64-1949841-zzt0prespect.devices.datareturn.com
3    0    0    0         64.29.192.226    daa.g921.ispb.datareturn.com
4    0    0    0         168.215.241.133    hagg-01-ae0-1001.dlfw.twtelecom.net
5    0    0    0         66.192.253.124    core-02-ge-0-3-1-504.dlfw.twtelecom.net
6    0    0    0         168.215.54.74    tran-02-ge-0-3-0-0.dlfw.twtelecom.net
7    10    0    0         66.192.242.130    
8    0    0    0         12.122.12.93    tbr2-p012402.dlstx.ip.att.net
9    30    30    30         12.122.10.89    tbr2-cl6.sl9mo.ip.att.net
10    30    30    30         12.122.10.45    tbr2-cl7.cgcil.ip.att.net
11    30    30    30         12.123.6.14    gar4-p390.cgcil.ip.att.net
12    31    40    40         12.118.239.38    
13    30    40    40         68.87.63.4    srp-8-1-ur01.macomb.mi.mich.Comcast.net
14    *    *    *            
15    *    *    *            
16    *    *    *            
17    *    *    *            

Trace aborted

-- end --

here is from me to centralops.net with firewall:

Tracing route to centralops.net [216.46.246.238]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2     8 ms     8 ms     9 ms  ge-8-2-ur01.macomb.mi.mich.Comcast.net [68.87.63
.85]
  3    11 ms    10 ms     9 ms  srp-1-1-ar01.taylor.mi.mich.Comcast.net [68.87.6
3.2]
  4    11 ms    12 ms    10 ms  12.119.243.105
  5    11 ms    12 ms    11 ms  GBr2-p30.dtrmi.ip.att.net [12.123.139.34]
  6    11 ms    13 ms    11 ms  tbr2-p012601.dtrmi.ip.att.net [12.122.12.181]
  7    17 ms    16 ms    16 ms  tbr2-cl1.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.134]
  8    15 ms    16 ms    16 ms  ggr2-p3120.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.123.6.69]
  9    17 ms    18 ms    16 ms  4.68.127.165
 10    87 ms    19 ms    17 ms  so-2-1-0.bbr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [209.244.8.9]

 11    46 ms    45 ms    53 ms  ae-0-0.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [64.159.1.110]
 12    46 ms    45 ms    46 ms  so-6-0.ipcolo1.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.68.112.178]

 13    44 ms    44 ms    45 ms  unknown.Level3.net [209.246.152.194]
 14    45 ms    47 ms    44 ms  daa.g921.disa.datareturn.com [64.29.192.230]
 15    46 ms    45 ms    47 ms  port-64-1949837-zzt0prespect.devices.datareturn.
com [64.29.192.141]
 16    46 ms    45 ms    47 ms  hexillion.com [216.46.246.238]

Trace complete.

without firewall:

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2     7 ms     9 ms     9 ms  ge-8-2-ur01.macomb.mi.mich.Comcast.net [68.87.63
.85]
  3    12 ms    10 ms     9 ms  srp-1-1-ar01.taylor.mi.mich.Comcast.net [68.87.6
3.2]
  4    11 ms    11 ms    13 ms  12.119.243.105
  5    10 ms    11 ms    11 ms  GBr2-p30.dtrmi.ip.att.net [12.123.139.34]
  6    12 ms    13 ms    10 ms  tbr2-p012601.dtrmi.ip.att.net [12.122.12.181]
  7    18 ms    15 ms    15 ms  tbr2-cl1.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.134]
  8    17 ms    17 ms    17 ms  ggr2-p3120.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.123.6.69]
  9    16 ms    18 ms    41 ms  4.68.127.165
 10    16 ms    16 ms    16 ms  so-2-1-0.bbr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [209.244.8.9]

 11    50 ms    46 ms    44 ms  as-0-0.bbr1.Dallas1.Level3.net [209.247.11.22]
 12    45 ms    45 ms    44 ms  so-7-0.ipcolo1.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.68.113.22]

 13    45 ms    47 ms    45 ms  unknown.Level3.net [209.246.152.194]
 14    44 ms    45 ms    46 ms  daa.g921.disa.datareturn.com [64.29.192.230]
 15    46 ms    45 ms    44 ms  port-64-1949837-zzt0prespect.devices.datareturn.
com [64.29.192.141]
 16    46 ms    45 ms    45 ms  hexillion.com [216.46.246.238]

Trace complete.

.s1 said something about Comcast and some other ISP´s blocking pings unless your using a router, then you become pingable

VanBuren

no problem, keep visiting and tell your friends about this great site 

VanBuren