PR Technical Problems Thread

[IRS_Agent]

This is a copy of a reply from EA games, This worked for me after several stressfull days trying to play bf2..it works great now!

You must follow the instructions EXACTLY or you may get problems.
------------------------------------------------

Delete and Reinstall the Punkbuster Folder and Software
To delete and reinstall the Punkbuster folder and software:

Click on My Computer.
Click on the C: drive, or wherever you have Battlefield 2 installed.
Click on Program Files.
Click on Electronic Arts.
Click on Battlefield 2.
Right-click on the pb folder, then click Delete.
Download and run the installation software for Punkbuster, which can be found here.
http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/pbsvc/pbsvc.exe
Click the Uninstall button.
Close the installer.
Click on the Start button.
Click on Run.
Type regedit in the text field and press OK.
Warning: Changes to the registry can cause your computer to operate improperly, so please follow these instructions exactly as they are written.
Follow these steps to back-up the registry so that should something go wrong, you can restore your system back to a working state:
If you are using Windows 2000/XP/Vista, click on File, and select Export. Note: If you are using Windows 95/98/ME, click on Registry
Then select Export Registry.
Select All under Export Range.
Type backup into the File name field, and click Save. You've now created a backup version of your registry.
Once you've created your backup, continue as follows.
Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Click the plus sign next to System.
Click the plus sign next to ControlSet001.
Click the plus sign next to Services.
Look for PnkBstrA, PnkBstrB, and PnkBstrK, and if they exist, right-click on each one and select Delete.
Click the minus sign next to ControlSet001.
Repeat steps 5, 6, 7, and 8 immediately above for any other ControlSet folders you have, such as ControlSet002 or CurrentControlSet.
Close regedit.
Double-click on the My Computer icon.
Double-click on drive C:.
Double-click on windows.
Double-click on system32.
Look for PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe and if they exist, right-click on each one and select Delete.
Double-click on drivers.
Look for PnkBstrK.sys, and if it exists, right-click on it and select Delete.
Restart windows.
Follow the instructions here to reinstall Punkbuster.
PunkBuster Online Countermeasures
Try to play Battlefield 2

Thats it! I hope less people are suffering with this annoying problem now!

Direct link:http://forums.filefront.com/rtcw-pro...-failed-2.html

Also, since this seems to be an absolute fix for a prevalent problem, I think a sticky might be helpful (although we do have a lot of stickies in the PR forum).

EDIT: PS- I tried it and it worked for me. Don't think I just posted this without going through it myself.

[sirsolo]

Very nice find.. I think Im going to do this anyways, just to be on the safe side...+1 virtual non supporting member rep.

§Sirsolo

[Pwn3ge]

Nah.
Delete PB folder in ea games
use pbsetup
that fixes it
(Only that one time)

[IRS_Agent]

Nah.
Delete PB folder in ea games
use pbsetup
that fixes it
(Only that one time)

Works for a while until the problem rears it's ugly head again. This is the only permanent fix I know of. I have done what you say and the problem has returned (twice).

[kilroy0097]

To do it right you really should do what is shown up there. At very least do the uninstall, restart and then reinstall and then restart.

[Betterdeadthanred]

Nah.
Delete PB folder in ea games
use pbsetup
that fixes it
(Only that one time)

Tried that about half a dozen times on separate occasions, none of them worked.

Tried the thing in the first post. That didn't work either.

I've had enough of this pointless BS. I stand by my statement that punkbuster is a worthless product.

[FFLaguna]

I stand by my statement that punkbuster is a worthless product.

Go play Arma for any length of time, then come back and say that. I saw somebody getting kicked from PR today on a training server for running "MultiHack"!

[Betterdeadthanred]

That's nice, but I'm not a cheater so why am I being punished?

[FFLaguna]

That's nice, but I'm not a cheater so why am I being punished?

If EA Games knew you were a cheater, they would ban you before they even released BF2... but they don't know who the cheaters are, so of course they have to run cheat detection programs on everybody's computer.

It really sucks that some people have problems with Punkbuster running, but the vast majority of the userbase doesn't appear to have these issues, and I have yet to meet hackers on a BF2 server run by Punkbuster. I certainly haven't seen anything like Arma, to say the least.

[206 Wolfpack]

This isnt the thing to fix the random PR crashes though is it? (IE: Trying connect to server in .8 and crashing to desktop before load screen comes up.)

[Wimpinator]

The method in the OP worked perfectly for me so far.

[eol]

This isnt the thing to fix the random PR crashes though is it? (IE: Trying connect to server in .8 and crashing to desktop before load screen comes up.)

I'm afraid no. Try to come up with the error message by changing the "fullscreen" value from "1" to "0" in the PR.exe, maybe someone in the technical support section can help.

[Pistolfied]

I've had enough of this pointless BS. I stand by my statement that punkbuster is a worthless product.

Today alone I've seen a total of 7 people (yeah, I counted) banned from a training server I was on for the day. 7 !!!

It's really amazing how many people try to hack in PR
I actually have a kind of respect for Punkbuster... I still hate it though and wish we just had something like VAC which works much better than Punkbuster I think.

[TMan]

I haven't had the handshaking PunkbusterB error since .8 came out. Does anyone know if .8 has fixed the problem or will we continue to see this into the future?

[joe98]

Just to add my two pennies worth, after uninstalling the previous version one of my punkbuster services was removed. The fix was to update with pbsetup.exe and then run pbsvc.exe (reinstall option).