Just a random guess... were/are you using nscd? it has had several bugs that could cause that kind of behaviour... Use the following ones to check whether its currently installed/in use: $ dpkg -s nscd | grep ^Status $ ps auwx | grep nscd
- Bug#45912: `ping', and name resolution in general, hangs offby1
- Bug#45912: ping', and name resolution in general, hangs Joost Kooij
- Tuomas Heino

