Question Can't Connect to a Specific IP Address

[DonConnery]

Hello all!

First I would like to say...I have been to this forum many times looking for help, and have always found my answer, so thanks to everyone! Now, I finally have a problem of my own that I can't seem to find a solution to....

I am trying to play an online game (Mordhau for you gamers out there). I am trying to connect to a specific server in said game. Well, not one specific server, but servers in a certain region. I can not get them to show up in my server browser, and if my friend is in them I can not join on them. If you aren't a gamer, I understand this may not make sense.

If I open up CMD, and ping a server that I know is online, it works. However, if I try and ping another server, (which happens to be the one im trying to connect to) my request times out. 4 packets sent, 0 received. My ISP has not been any help, because at their end, when they ping the server, they do not time out. For reference, the IP to the server is 147.135.6.208 . You can see the server statistics at https://www.battlemetrics.com/servers/mordhau/3539486 which will show that it is online.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[bill001g]

You can run tracert to the ip and see where you the path stops. If it is far away from your house which is likely the problem is in another ISP. It could be some issue with the subnet not be correctly advertised between ISP. It also I could be a firewall blocking your IP, I know vpn IP get black listed on games at times.

Pretty much though you can do nothing about it unless the loss occurs in your ISP.

You can use tools called looking glass to run tracert and ping from various ISP routers. It does not help you actually fix the problem unless you get lucky and it is some issue with your ISP.

 

[DonConnery]

tracert 147.135.6.208

Tracing route to ns101327.ip-147-135-6.us [147.135.6.208]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms DeviceDHCP.Home [192.168.1.1]
2 3 ms 2 ms 2 ms 38.77.49.1
3 6 ms 5 ms 5 ms te0-0-0-0.nr12.b015384-0.syr01.atlas.cogentco.com [38.122.120.137]
4 6 ms 7 ms 6 ms te0-0-1-5.rcr21.syr01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.24.59.161]
5 10 ms 10 ms 9 ms be3173.ccr22.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.29.117]
6 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms be2916.ccr42.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.41.62]
7 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms be2897.rcr24.jfk01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.84.214]
8 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms be2601.rcr21.ewr02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.40.50]
9 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms nwk-5-a9.nj.us [142.44.208.162]
10 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms be100-1007.ash-5-a9.va.us [198.27.73.219]
11 20 ms 20 ms 20 ms vl1333.was1-vin1-g2-nc5.wa.us [178.32.135.155]
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.

Not sure if that helps??

 

[jsmithepa]

Not a gamer but somewhat surprised you have to contact the server IP directly rather than a simple URL. Seem like a kludge.

 

[bill001g]

Well your trace is a little simpler than most. Your ISP is psi which is actually cogent. So the first 8 hops are all cogent. At hop 9 it goes to a ISP called OVH which is a server hosting company. The actual IP you want to access is owned by them.

So you only have 2 ISP which is kinda rare. cogent is a large ISP that has tools like looking glass

http://www.cogentco.com/en/network/looking-glass

I have picked a couple cites to see if I can get similar results but everything I tried works This is what I see if I choose their router in new york

traceroute to 147.135.6.208 (147.135.6.208), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 gi0-1-1-19.5.agr21.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (66.28.3.113) 0.751 ms 0.738 ms
2 be2605.ccr41.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.153) 0.539 ms 0.554 ms
3 be2896.rcr23.jfk01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.84.202) 0.694 ms 0.701 ms
4 be2601.rcr21.ewr02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.40.50) 1.296 ms 1.349 ms
5 nwk-5-a9.nj.us (142.44.208.162) 1.556 ms 1.566 ms
6 be100-1007.ash-5-a9.va.us (198.27.73.219) 8.235 ms be100-1039.ash-1-a9.va.us (198.27.73.203) 7.388 ms
7 vl1333.was1-vin1-g2-nc5.wa.us (178.32.135.155) 9.518 ms vl1332.was1-vin1-g1-nc5.wa.us (178.32.135.211) 8.997 ms
8 * *
9 * *
10 * *
11 * *
12 ns101327.ip-147-135-6.us (147.135.6.208) 8.593 ms 8.552 ms

It is really strange all those timeout hops in 8-11. This is all in OVH network.

I have no clue what to suggest. What happens if you use another ip like 147.135.6.200. This one responds for me I have no idea what it is but it is more does only 1 server to respond or the whole subnet. If it is just 1 server maybe something with the game. Multiple addresses indicates maybe a routing issue. Still hop2 8-11 are what a trace looks like when there is a firewall in the path.

Likely have to ask the OVH company but I have no clue how you could even think to do that. https://www.ovh.com/world/

 

[DonConnery]

To put it more direct, the game hosts "official" servers in different cities. Being in NY, the closest city where official servers are hosted is Ashburn, VA. I never see ANY of those servers. The cloest I see is Dallas, and MAYBE Chicago. My friends see Ashburn, which is closest to them, hence why I want to play there. Also, my friend in the same town (different ISP) also sees them.

 

[bill001g]

The problem here is you are going to need a tech from one of the ISP to help you. Your ISP should be able to do a ping/tracert from the router 38.77.49.1 to that server. If that ip works then maybe it is only your single IP that is blocked......were you a naughty boy
You could see if your isp will give you a different address. You could also try leaving your modem powered off over night. That may not work I know the IP on my modem has almost 1 month before it expires so it would have to be off a very long time.

If the entire subnet is blocked then it gets more complex. You would need help from the hosting company to find out why that entire subnet does not work. This is mostly getting a email to the correct person. They really don't like dealing with all the stupid gamers who don't have a clue. In your case you have a little more knowledge but I am unsure they would even talk to me. In the past I have had to use my personnel connections with people I worked with that now work for a ISP to get me a contact.

Worst case I suspect a VPN will fix this.

 

[DonConnery]

Subnet is the 147 right? I will look into a VPN later, never used one.

 

[bill001g]

It is YOUR subnet I suspect. I am betting the traffic does not get back to you not that your traffic gets to the server. I guess it could be either. Your subnet I suspect is 38.77.49.0/24. Since it does not affect other people I am betting the forward route...ie the path to the server is fine. It is the return traffic that may have a problem.

VPN is pretty easy. I run it on my router just because I found microsoft was bypassing the vpn for their patches. I was worried what else could bypass. The pc based clients are trivial to install compared to running it on a router though.

I would look at the larger providers like PIA or nordvpn but there are many. Do not get temped by the so called "free" providers. You never get something for free and many of these VPN even if they don't do anything bad can be hard to uninstall cleanly.

 

[DonConnery]

Thanks for that, I'm sure I would have ended up with one of the bad ones being in a hurry. And thanks everyone else as well. Yard work to do today and back at this later.

 

[DonConnery]

VPN solved the problem! Im going to call my ISP tomorrow and get an IP change just to see. Thanks alot!