diff --git a/kernel/ping.c b/kernel/ping.c
index da707c3f..46951113 100644
--- a/kernel/ping.c
+++ b/kernel/ping.c
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 #include <metalsvm/processor.h>
 #include <lwip/opt.h>
 
-#if LWIP_RAW /* don't build if not configured for use in lwipopts.h */
+#if LWIP_RAW || LWIP_SOCKET /* don't build if not configured for use in lwipopts.h */
 
 #include <lwip/mem.h>
 #include <lwip/raw.h>
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@
 #include <lwip/timers.h>
 #include <lwip/inet_chksum.h>
 
+#if LWIP_SOCKET
+#define PING_USE_SOCKETS	1
+#endif
+
 #if PING_USE_SOCKETS
 #include <lwip/sockets.h>
 #include <lwip/inet.h>
@@ -194,7 +198,7 @@ ping_recv(int s)
 static void
 ping_thread(void *arg)
 {
-  int s;
+  int s, i;
   int timeout = PING_RCV_TIMEO;
   ip_addr_t ping_target;
 
@@ -207,7 +211,7 @@ ping_thread(void *arg)
 
   lwip_setsockopt(s, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVTIMEO, &timeout, sizeof(timeout));
 
-  while (1) {
+  for(i=0; i<10; i++) {
     ping_target = PING_TARGET;
 
     if (ping_send(s, &ping_target) == ERR_OK) {
@@ -224,6 +228,8 @@ ping_thread(void *arg)
     }
     sys_msleep(PING_DELAY);
   }
+
+  lwip_close(s);
 }
 
 #else /* PING_USE_SOCKETS */