From: Mike N. 

On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 09:12:14 -0700, Ellen K.  wrote:

>>   The router/switch in step 1 has been programmed not to give ICMP
>>unreachables.  It might by the default gateway if it is on a different
>>subnet; in which case you can get the gateway from  IPCONFIG.

   The *'s in line 1 happen because nothing replied to the packet.   It's
probably a security setting in the first device that keeps it from replying
to a packet that has timed out  (which is what traceroute does).   Some
firewalls are configured this way by default.

   If you want to find the IP address of  the device in line 1, just open a
command prompt, type IPCONFIG, and look for "Default Gateway".

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