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punkbuster

Posted: April 28th, 2017, 8:01 pm
by fluffy
Randomly started getting kicked for this...anyone know a fix...?

"RESTRICTION: Service communication failure: pnkbstrb.exe initialization failed"

Re: punkbuster

Posted: April 29th, 2017, 3:30 pm
by Trench
In situations like that I always assume something changed; e.g. did it start after the latest Windows Updates applied, it started after upgrading or changing my anti-virus software, it started after I added an additional game to the system, etc.

But even knowing what changed, the basic suggestions might still be the same. e.g. Re-run the PBSVC.EXE (described as part of step 6a in these instructions) and make sure all the tests complete successfully. Then re-run Tank's PB Update just for good measure (though that doesn't contain the PB services).

Note if you use a CD-based Battlefield 1942 installation, you don't normally install the PBSVC.EXE separately/manually, because it's already part of the 1.6 update that applies when you select "install PunkBuster" as part of the CD-based installation. So you're following step 6a out of the Origin installation instructions specifically because you want to attempt re-installing the PunkBuster services. Without uninstalling and re-installing the entire Battlefield 1942 game (yet).

-Trench

Re: punkbuster

Posted: April 29th, 2017, 8:19 pm
by fluffy
I seem to have got it fixed.. Thanks sir...

Re: punkbuster

Posted: April 30th, 2017, 7:35 pm
by zanshin1
Hi,

i was gone on vacation....did nothing to comp.


im getting kicked too....."failure:pnkbstrB.exe driver failure"


same thing?

i played docks fine but couldnt stay in stalingrad for 20secs.....


ty

Re: punkbuster

Posted: April 30th, 2017, 11:29 pm
by Trench
I'd say give it a shot. Are you Windows 7 like Fluffy is? Maybe Microsoft pushed something out last Patch Tuesday that disrupted the PunkBuster services on Windows 7. The PBSVC.EXE re-installation is still the recommendable first step.

All I can say is that nothing seems to have changed for me on Windows 10, even with Windows Updates enabled. I even updated to Windows 10 1703 on my machine with Battlefield 1942 & PunkBuster already installed, and it hasn't seemed to affect the game here.

-Trench

Re: punkbuster

Posted: May 2nd, 2017, 11:06 am
by zanshin1
Hi

Im using XP still......restarted and I was fine yesterday.....

never encountered that before....Is it possible I have a virus?

I did a check and it came back fine (avast), but my comp store guy says "that dont mean much"

????
TY

Re: punkbuster

Posted: May 2nd, 2017, 11:48 am
by Mali Mrav
install win7 and play like everyone on server :P

Re: punkbuster

Posted: May 2nd, 2017, 3:11 pm
by Trench
With something as old as PunkBuster / Battlefield 1942, "might be because I'm infected with a virus" isn't what I'd put in the top-five or top-ten possible reasons for "suddenly I have PunkBuster / Battlefield 1942-specific issues."

Was asking if it happened to be Windows 7 in case that might be a reason why yours and Fluf's went south right around the same time. (e.g. Something Microsoft pushed from Windows Update affected you both. Like when they started pushing the update that disabled SafeDisc, which affected many people.) But I don't think Microsoft is even pushing Windows XP updates any more; though its definitely not something I've checked on.

So I would say its not likely a virus, and not likely specific to Windows XP, either. You should just try the PBSVC.EXE installation route and see what the results are. Waiting until you have the issue again would be fine too; if the problem doesn't return, no need to fix what isn't broken, or to break what didn't need fixing.

Yeah, your computer guy isn't wrong. It's not too difficult for malware to hide itself from virus scanners these days. You still want something running real-time while using Windows, but when interested to "scan and double-check" in a situation like this, your best bet is with an "offline" virus scanner.

Meaning, a product that provides you with a boot CD or USB drive that you can boot your computer to /instead/ of letting it load your Windows installation, and then from this completely independent OS running from the CD/USB drive, you scan the Windows NTFS volumes from there. That way any malware that might have already compromised the Windows installation never gets the chance to run or "cloak itself."

Some anti-virus products only provide that as part of their paid product, while others provide it for free. One free one is AVG's Rescue CD. You have to burn the .ISO image to a CD in order to create a bootable CD, or use the included SETUP.EXE to write a bootable USB flash drive.

Your computer then has to allow booting from the CD/USB instead of your hard disk, which sometimes requires enabling boot options in your BIOS, and/or using a function key during boot-up. (e.g. on Dell it's typically F12 to get the one-time boot menu, in order to select booting from an inserted CD or USB drive instead of the default for booting from the hard drive.)

-Trench