Alex Ruben
How To Resolve ERR_HTTP2_PING_FAILED Error When a Site Won’t Load
This “ERR_HTTP2_PING_FAILED” error in Chrome can be a real pain, especially when it suddenly pops up with “This site can’t be reached.” It’s kind of frustrating because it feels like your browser just can’t keep the connection alive for some reason. Usually, it’s related to network hiccups, DNS issues, or sometimes firewall settings messing with the HTTP/2 ping stuff in Chrome. Luckily, there are a handful of tricks that can help get things back on track. Doing these steps can fix the connection, so you’re not stuck staring at that error screen forever. Expect to see the webpage load normally after following these steps, and once it’s fixed, Chrome should stop throwing that ping message at you.
How to Fix ERR_HTTP2_PING_FAILED Error on Windows 10 & 11
Check Your Network Adapter Settings
This might seem obvious, but network adapters can get into weird states sometimes, especially after Windows updates or driver hiccups. Usually, resetting or toggling some settings helps Chrome’s connection pings resolve properly. Here’s what to do:
- Press the Windows key and type Network Connections. Hit Enter or click it.
- Click on View Network Connections — it’s under Settings > Network & Internet.
- Find the network adapter you’re using (like Ethernet or Wi-Fi), right-click, and go to Properties.
- Look for Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), highlight it, and click Properties.
- Make sure Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically are selected. If not, change them.
- Alternatively, entering Google’s free DNS servers can help: switch to Use the following DNS server addresses and pop in
8.8.8.8and8.8.4.4. - Click OK to save, then restart your browser.
This tweaks the network stack enough sometimes to fix those pesky ping failures. On some setups, this change has helped after the first try; on others, you might need to restart your PC or disable/re-enable the adapter.
Flush DNS and Reset Winsock
Because of course, Windows has to complicate things. Flushing DNS cache often clears out corrupted data that might be blocking communication or causing the ping issues Chrome grumbles about.
- Open Command Prompt as administrator — press the Windows key, type cmd, right-click and pick Run as administrator.
- Type the following commands one after the other, pressing Enter after each:
ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock resetAfter running these, it’s usually a good idea to reboot your machine. Not sure why it helps, but these reset the network stacks and DNS caches that might be causing the problem.
Reboot and Check Browser Settings
Once the DNS cache and Winsock reset, restart your PC. Sometimes this step alone is enough to clear out lingering network issues or conflicts that Chrome’s trying to ping through. Then, open Chrome and see if the error still appears.
If it’s still there, consider turning off any VPNs or proxies temporarily—they can interfere with HTTP/2 epochs, especially if they have DNS or network tunneling issues. Also, check your firewall settings to see if Chrome or your network is blocking certain connections, particularly outbound connections on ports Chrome uses for HTTP/2.
Additional Tweaks: Disable HTTP/2 in Chrome (if desperate)
Kind of a hack, but if none of the above work, some users have had success disabling HTTP/2 in Chrome via command-line flags. This isn’t ideal, but it forces Chrome to fall back on HTTP/1.1, which doesn’t ping as aggressively. You can do this by:
- Right-click Chrome’s shortcut, choose Properties.
- In the Target field, add the following at the end:
--disable-http2This can help, but it’s more of a last resort workaround because it disables some HTTP/2 benefits.
Extra Tips & Common Issues
Make sure your network connection is actually stable — try browsing with another device on the same Wi-Fi to see if it’s your entire network or just your Windows setup. Disabling VPNs temporarily or toggling airplane mode can sometimes reset things. Firewall or security software? Yeah, they get a little too eager sometimes and block Chrome’s connection keep-alives or ping packets. Also, Chrome updates can sometimes cause issues, so check if an update is pending or try reinstalling if nothing else works.
Wrap-up
At this point, messing with network settings, DNS flushes, and resets usually sorts out the ERR_HTTP2_PING_FAILED error. It’s not always clear why this error pops up—sometimes it’s just a gremlin in the network stack or DNS caches. Doing these steps is enough to fix the connection, but if you’re still seeing issues after all this, it might be worth poking your router, updating network drivers, or even contacting your ISP if the problem is persistent on all devices. In the end, these tricks cover most of the common causes, and it’s a bit of trial and error sometimes.
Summary
- Check and reset your network adapter settings, especially DNS and TCP/IP configs.
- Flush DNS cache and reset Winsock to clear network weirdness.
- Restart everything and test if the error persists.
- Disable VPNs or proxies if using them temporarily.
- Adjust Chrome flags to disable HTTP/2 if nothing else works.
Fingers crossed this helps
This kind of problem can be super annoying, but the good news is that most of the time, a combination of these tweaks will get Chrome talking to websites again without throwing ping errors. Just remember, sometimes a reboot or slight network tweak is all it takes to fix what seems like a big deal. Hopefully, this saves someone a heap of time debugging connection issues.