|  | 11.3 | Distance-Vector Routing
| 11.3.5 | The problem of counting to infinity
Continuing the example from the previous page, the invalid updates of Network 1 will continue to loop until some other process stops the looping. This condition, called count to infinity, loops packets continuously around the network in spite of the fundamental fact that the destination network, Network 1, is down. While the routers are counting to infinity, the invalid information allows a routing loop to exist. Without countermeasures to stop the process, the distance vector (metric) of hop count increments each time the packet passes through another router. These packets loop through the network because of wrong information in the routing tables.