garbage values in a dos tracert?

[ElvisDumbledore]

anyone know what could cause the garbage ping times in the following dos tracert?

The computer is connected directly to the cable modem at the time the tracert is run.

C:\>tracert google.com

Tracing route to google.com [64.233.187.99]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 4294967168 ms 4294967166 ms 4294967166 ms
GE-1-5-ur01.A1atlanta.ga.atlanta.comcast.net [68.86.110.241]
3 4294967168 ms 4294967166 ms 4294967167 ms
te-9-2-ur02.b0atlanta.ga.atlanta.comcast.net [68.86.106.45]
4 8 ms 4294967167 ms 4294967166 ms
te-9-4-ur01.b0atlanta.ga.atlanta.comcast.net [68.86.106.13]
5 9 ms 4294967169 ms 4294967168 ms
te-8-2-ar02.b0atlanta.ga.atlanta.comcast.net [68.86.90.126]
6 9 ms 4294967166 ms 4294967166 ms
te-0-1-0-5-cr01.atlanta.ga.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.125]
7 9 ms 4294967166 ms 4294967167 ms te-4-3.car1.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.71.252.25]
8 4294967169 ms 4294967166 ms 4294967167 ms ae-21-52.car1.Atlanta1.Level3.net [4.68.103.34]
9 4294967169 ms 4294967169 ms 4294967169 ms
GOOGLE-INC.car1.Atlanta1.Level3.net [4.78.209.194]
10 4294967176 ms 4294967168 ms 4294967169 ms 72.14.239.21
11 13 ms 4294967171 ms 4294967177 ms 216.239.49.222
12 4294967169 ms 4294967169 ms 4294967171 ms
jc-in-f99.google.com [64.233.187.99]

Trace complete.

[jdabbs]

The numbers aren't random, but exist within a relatively narrow range, which lies close to the upper bound of int32 (4294967295, unsigned). Wrap-around, perhaps?

The output could be a symptom that the OS can't reconcile the send and receive times of the packet to determine latency. No telling what the root cause is: could be general Windows bit-rot (you said DOS, but I think you meant command prompt), incorrect date/time, dying CMOS battery, even a non-Y2K compliant system.

With issues like these, it's often faster to reformat/reinstall than isolate and attempt to resolve the issue.

[ElvisDumbledore]

thanks for the speedy response. i'm glad i posted before i did anything too drastic. for the longest time i thought it was the router going bad. guess i'll have to do another clean wipe on this system soon. :)