Ping by netBios name results in IP address not in my network

[dpu]

i have an issue when i ping a computername in my network it returns with the ip address of 208.73.212.12 which is not on my network. In fact the ip address redirects the user to a website. has any one seen this or know what is causing this and most of all how to track it and delete it?

 

[goombawaho]

Check your c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file. Open it with notepad. It probably has an entry in there that's causing the problem. It should look more or less like this:

If not, you've got problems and editing this file is not going to fix them.
You need to download antispyware and do a thorough scan. Try Spybot, AdAware or actually what I recommend is the 90 day free trial of Windows Live OneCare. Version 2.0 is a lot better than the previous and it's fully functioning trial for 90 days. It will search for spyware and viruses.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/images/community/columns/60161_375x200_hosts_F.gif

 

[Diancecht]

Even if the problem is in your hosts file, something has changed it so I'd do the malware search anyway.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[ChrisRAnthony]

Are you using a FQDN (Fully qualified domain name) or just the computer name? We have had a similar problem on our webfarm where one of the servers had an identical name to another site. By adding the domain name to the end of the name it resolved correctly.