hi,

wld like to know how come my system can't ping to the host name e.g. mail.xxx.com, but it's able to ping to the ip address equivalent?

pls help...

tks lots

is this a new domain that hasn't updated to the dns servers and is mail.xxx.com the actual domain you're trying to ping? what operating system?

As per Surfer, OS (and version) would help slightly.
Regardless, your OS should have an "nslookup" command. Try:

nslookup mail.xxx.com

It should reply with which DNS server(s) it is asking, and the IP address for the site - which it will not find (since ping cannot resolve it).
I have a feeling that you have misconfigured your DNS server(s) or your OS is not set to look for them properly.
Is this a public website (mail server) you are trying to reach? If so, please share the full hostname with us, then we can try it as well.

ronald.

it's an intermittent problem. Sometimes i can, other times i can't. This morning i tried to ping mail.xxx.com and there's reply... so i really don't know what's happening here...

Are you in an office environment or at home?
If you're in an office (school) network, talk to the network or system administrator(s) or Helpdesk.
If you're at home, please let us know which provider [ISP] (and what type of service; DLS, Cable etc) you have.
The nslookup command will tell you what DNS server(s) you are using. It could be that the connection from your computer to the DNS server(s) is unstable, or the DNS server(s) are having issues.

If you are at home, and we can determine that your provider's DNS server(s) are not working properly then you can take it up with them.

In any case (home, school or office) the DNS servers should be stable and reliable.