PING Utility Hanging!

I am unable to use the ping.exe utility in Windows XP. i need this to check my connectivity with my ISP and other network peers. as soon as i try to ping ANYTHING(even the localhost) it hangs. the details from event viwer r as below:

Event Type:Error
Event Source:Application Error
Event Category:None
Event ID: 1000
Date:11/9/2006
Time:3:17:01 PM
User:N/A
Computer:XPWORKSTATION
Description:
Faulting application ping.exe, version 5.1.2600.2180, faulting module unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 70 69 6e ure pin
0018: 67 2e 65 78 65 20 35 2e g.exe 5.
0020: 31 2e 32 36 30 30 2e 32 1.2600.2
0028: 31 38 30 20 69 6e 20 75 180 in u
0030: 6e 6b 6e 6f 77 6e 20 30 nknown 0
0038: 2e 30 2e 30 2e 30 20 61 .0.0.0 a
0040: 74 20 6f 66 66 73 65 74 t offset
0048: 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0000000
0050: 30 0d 0a 0..
==========================

i tried to run it under SAFE mode in case some app might be restricting it from functioning but to no use i even replaced the utility with the original one from my installation disk but even that didn't work out.
but it seems theres some problem with the utility itself because i downloaded a 3rd party pinging utility and it worked just fine!

note: i have tested my firewall and antivirus options..they r not interfering.