Manas T

The Random Blog

Rectify Windows XP bug : Cannot clear ARP cache

with 50 comments

Many a time, the Windows XP ARP cache becomes corrupt and needs to be cleared. The first symptom which points to a corrupt ARP cache is that connections to web pages will time out and fail.

Occasionally, clearing the ARP cache will fail due to a bug in Microsoft Windows XP. When you try to use Microsoft Windows to repair the network connection, you will receive an error message that says:

Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following operation could not be completed:

Clearing the ARP cache
For assistance, contact the person who manages your network.

How To Solve The “Unable to repair ARP cache” bug in Windows XP

This bug occurs when Routing and Remote Access service of Windows XP is enabled. Routing and Remote Access service is almost unnecessary and can be turned off.

To disable Routing and Remote Access service:

  • Click on the “Start” button.
  • Click the “Run” button.
  • Type “services.msc” and hit Enter.
  • Scroll down to “Routing and Remote Access” under the “Name column”.
  • Double-click “Routing and Remote Access”.
  • Set the “Startup Type” to “Disabled”.
  • Also make sure the service status is Stopped. If it is not Stopped, click the “Stop” button.
  • Click the “OK” button.
  • Close the services window.

Try clearing the ARP cache again. It will complete with no error messages. :)

Written by Manas

March 23rd, 2007 at 9:19 pm

Posted in Uncategorized

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with 50 comments to “Rectify Windows XP bug : Cannot clear ARP cache”

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  1. Nimble Jim

    3 Apr 07 at 5:40 am

    Thank you for this. I have just run into the problem and could not figure out how to fix it.

  2. Manas

    3 Apr 07 at 8:00 pm

    Glad to know it helped you. :)

  3. Tony Blake

    3 Apr 07 at 11:17 pm

    Fixed it for me too!

  4. Manas

    4 Apr 07 at 8:08 am

    ^^ :)

  5. Kim

    27 Apr 07 at 6:02 am

    I’m having this same problem – but I do use Microsoft Remote Web Workplace.
    Is it safe for me to attempt turning this routing and remote access process off?

    I can open some web pages- not all, but it doesn’t always allow me to open links within, – I feel like I’m getting rerouted…??? I don’t know.

  6. Manas

    27 Apr 07 at 7:41 am

    @ Kim – I don’t think, you should turn the service off if you are really using it. Ask your network admin to find out if you need the service. :)

  7. Ramesh

    27 Dec 07 at 12:22 pm

    Thanks. It helped me too

  8. PAUL

    23 Jan 08 at 12:46 am

    THIS IS A GOD SEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Nigel

    31 Jan 08 at 10:33 pm

    Fixe my problem too. Many Thanks.

  10. Jesthefez

    27 Feb 08 at 1:54 am

    This is much quicker a fix than rebooting my computer Intranet ~ bloody XP.
    Many thanx

  11. Texhead

    17 Mar 08 at 11:10 am

    And me lol

  12. don

    30 May 08 at 11:10 am

    thank you this helped me out alot my internet was so slow

  13. kailash

    1 Jun 08 at 3:25 pm

    windows could not finish repairing because the following action cannot be completed.
    Clearing the ARP cache

    contact the network person

  14. rod m.

    4 Jun 08 at 5:09 am

    you’re my hero! thanks!

  15. Oleg R

    22 Jun 08 at 3:22 pm

    Thanx dude!

  16. Dan

    4 Jul 08 at 3:55 pm

    does this mean, now that its fixed (thankies btw!), i can turn it back on?

  17. Vrej

    11 Jul 08 at 5:05 pm

    hi ,thx 4 assistance but u knoe what ,my platform is win server 2003 & im using it as a domain controler ,that means i cant stop the rras service ,how can i realy get rid of this bug ??????????????

  18. rakesh kumar

    18 Aug 08 at 1:06 pm

    thanks it worked for me too

  19. Jcity

    1 Nov 08 at 6:11 am

    Thanks guyz very helpful. Althou we gotta look 4 a way to make da 2 tasks work simultaneusly… i kno ya kno. Thumbs up!

  20. JP

    21 Nov 08 at 6:07 am

    Very helpful, thanks!

  21. Reiner

    24 Nov 08 at 12:23 am

    I think it is remarkable that Microsoft does not even have this problem on their Knowledge base!

  22. vrej924

    25 Nov 08 at 3:17 am

    hummmm….. :D DD yes that was easy for simple users,but how about those who use’s the routing &remote acces service?4 example in the server 2003 when u want to config a NAT server !!!! u thoght that micosoft is that fool!!! if u find the seloution about it ,please mail it to me thx,otherwise dont be so happy that u figure out something that it wasnt at the microsoft detabase

  23. Steeeve

    22 Dec 08 at 10:19 am

    I noticed no one stated that if you are in need of the service, you may be able to disable it long enough to repair the arp cache, and turn the service back on to automatic, and start it to begin the service.

  24. chey

    10 Jan 09 at 6:53 pm

    thanks a lot. Man how did you know that? did Gates tell? anyway thanks

  25. charlie

    25 Jan 09 at 8:44 pm

    you the man, thanks

  26. Elizabeth

    9 Feb 09 at 12:27 pm

    I had been having problems with another aspect of XP, ran services.msc and turned off everything I could think of. That stopped the rhythmic spiking to 100% CPU usage I was getting, but it screwed up a lot of other things (LOL…well, yeah…go figure). So I went back and turned on a bunch of things, some of which obviously should not have been turned on. Thanks for letting me know that this was one of them. Mine is a case where a little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing!!

    ;o)

  27. Robert

    20 Feb 09 at 8:59 am

    Now it won’t even connect to the linksys i’m using.

  28. Joe

    1 Mar 09 at 1:27 am

    Didn’t have the slightest idea how to fix the ARP cache problem. It worked ! Thanks a lot.

  29. virusa

    18 Apr 09 at 6:40 pm

    ok SP3 thit bug is fixed

  30. Corno

    5 Jun 09 at 1:23 am

    Thanks, really helped.
    So many answers to this problem that don’t work but this one is excellent.

  31. Corno

    5 Jun 09 at 1:23 am

    Thanks, really helped.
    So many answers to this problem that don’t work but this one is excellent.

  32. Vlad

    11 Jun 09 at 10:19 am

    Thank you – very much! I agree with others that there are many answers to this question that don’t work or ask for money, or even make it worse. But your advice is excellent. Thank you! *PEACE*

  33. sourabh jaju

    11 Jun 09 at 7:36 pm

    thanks for your help

  34. Skylah

    6 Jul 09 at 8:56 am

    Thanks..headches solved!

  35. John Preece

    27 Sep 09 at 12:59 pm

    I’m having this problem in Windows XP service pack 3 but the setting was already set to disabled. I have tried various commands such as ‘ netsh interface ip delete arpcache’, which comes back with ‘OK’, but nothing seems to work. This is very frustrating as I have only just managed to get my firewire recognised in windows again after it had disappeared altogether from IPCONFIG. Now I have got it back I can’t use it. I have had this working recently networked with my linux computer.

  36. Greatbayu

    20 Oct 09 at 10:22 am

    Thank u, I can solve my problem too :)

  37. tachyon

    24 Oct 09 at 12:33 am

    nailed it! You were my first result in google

  38. rao

    15 Apr 10 at 4:46 am

    very nice its working well,

  39. Karthik

    15 Apr 10 at 6:35 pm

    Thank u frnd.. very good sollution it cleared my problem…..

    Regards,
    Karthik

  40. Darrell

    30 Apr 10 at 8:22 am

    Worked like a champ! After hours of searching found your fix. Thanks!!

  41. Anjan Sarbadhikari

    11 May 10 at 11:28 am

    THANK YOU….Its working

  42. JJ

    17 May 10 at 8:49 am

    Many thanks!! This error has been driving me crazy for some time now. Such an easy fix… thanks again for sharing! :)

  43. danyal

    7 Jun 10 at 9:05 pm

    solved my problem,many many thanks

  44. Laurence William

    16 Jun 10 at 1:28 am

    Solved my problem since I replaced my router, I am no great nerdy computo guy so this was great advise for anyone with this kind of problem without getting into re-inventing the wheel., thanks.. Laurence

  45. sanjay kumar

    16 Jun 10 at 7:33 am

    thanks a lot. arp flush is now fixed.

  46. Mike ne

    8 Jul 10 at 9:27 am

    Many thanks. Strang that MSC have not made a bug fix!

  47. Pieter Newtown in OZ

    26 Jul 10 at 10:28 pm

    On 24 Oct 09 tachyon said:
    nailed it! You were my first result in google

    Ditto! First Google link tried, Success first time! Thanx!

  48. Pieter Newtown in OZ

    26 Jul 10 at 10:35 pm

    P.S. Can Also access this via Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services [IF Admin Tools shown - if not goto Taskbar Properties - Start Menu - Customise - Check Display Admin Tools box. Would need Admin priveleges to do this]

  49. SomeBody

    6 Aug 10 at 4:56 pm

    It’s work, thanks a lot :)

  50. Cory

    21 Aug 10 at 1:05 pm

    Worked great-Disabled service and Network ran great again!

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