Wanted: PING utility to test for dead address

[John Gray]

Does anyone know of a PING utility that will:
a) run quietly in the background without a GUI window
b) PING a specific IP address on the local LAN every 'n' minutes
c) pop up a small window if, and only if, the IP address does not reply

I've tried Googling for such, but only get the sort of ones which PING every address in the known universe and display them continuously in a GUI window.

The reason for this unusual requirement is that I would like to know when my cable modem has hung and requires a power cycle, which it does every few weeks, as soon as the problem occurs.
(It is the laughably- and inaccurately-named Virgin Media "Super Hub", in modem mode, since you ask!)

I can do almost all of this in a BATch file, but these don't play nicely with GUI windows, I'm sorry to say (in this instance)!

[StuartR]

A Google search for "Network monitor with ping" turned up http://emcosoftware.com/ping-monitor amongst other offerings.

Edited to add
http://www.peermonitor.com/ also looks like it might do what you want

[John Gray]

Thanks, Stuart - I had chosen worse Google search options.

Ping Monitor looks interesting, if complicated.
Peer Monitor might do the job, but was last updated in May 2004!

[StuartR]

Not sure it needs an update, sending out a ping and telling you if it failed is hardly new.

[John Gray]

But there may be some difference between the code for Windows XP and earlier, compared with Vista, Windows 7 and 8!

We Shall See!

[StuartR]

Let us know whether it works for you

[John Gray]

I'm trying Peer Monitor, but I cannot find a way of starting it (task scheduled, at logon) minimised to the system tray. I have to click on the Shrink button on a tiny window to get it to be minimised. This would give me a green icon, which would turn to red if the cable modem was no longer accessible. Still working on it!

BTW I think the program has been abandoned by its author, since the only support seems to be via files on the website.

Later... by some investigation in the registry I have found an option "StraightToTray" which, when set to 1, seems to start minimised to the system tray!

Even later... If anyone is going to try this program, I would point out that the installation asks you if you want to replace three newer system files with the older ones in the package (you don't, of course). Also, you have to register (anonymously) to obtain a numeric key to run the program.

I've got it to work Task Scheduled by using a BATch file which does:

Code: Select all

:: this is the critical key/value to enable Peer Monitor to start
::   minimised to the System Tray.  
set key=HKCU\Software\DanielClarke.com\PeerMonitor\Geometry
set value=StraightToTray

:: it doesn't matter whether the value was originally 0 or 1!
reg add %key% /v %value% /d 1 /f > nul

:: start Peer Monitor, and exit the Command Prompt window
start "" "c:\Program files\Peer Monitor\PeerMonitor.exe"