Ever since I can remeber, I cannot run "traceroute" on my iMac or my PowerBook. If I go to a new shell and type "traceroute cnn.com", it shows *** on the first hop. Then if I go to Network Utility and try it through there it does the same thing. I have no problems running tracert cnn.com on my Windoze boxes in my network.
I had the exact same problem when I switched to OSX with 10.2.4, 10.3.0, 10.3.3.
NetBarrier TraceRoute, VisualRoute, GlobalTraceRoute all fail any traceroute attempts. I could NEVER get them to work either. I had not tried OSX tools as I am far from UNIX savvy.
I did hit upon two that work however. IPNetMonitor has many tools among them TRACEROUTE. If you toggle it off the default UDP TRACE to ICMP TRACE, it works like a charm under OSX 10.2.4, 10.3.0 & 10.3.3.
Another was WHATROUTE. This also works. Under WHATROUTE window choose TRACE setting from popup, click OPTIONS button, and toggle OFF the radio button: Use UDP Traceroute. WhatRoute will then traceroute perfectly.
I never found out why this problem occurs or why only some traceroute OSX software provides options that work. It involves ICMP & UDP protocols, that's clear. WINDOWS uses a traceroute routine most similar to the ICMP choices and more compatible with routers.
I use a router a MIH 130A XRouter Pro from MacSense (XSense.com). I think (hazy memory from two years ago) if I removed my router, and direct connected to my cable modem>Mac the traceroute routines worked, but not through the router.
Annoying, but at least I found software that works.
Hope this hint works for you. It works on my G4 450, G4 933 & iMac1.25
G'Day