Punkbuster Failed to INIT error

[Bazajaytee]

If you see this error and you know who the server admins are then ask them to restart their server. The message is caused by an error on the server side with PB and a restart will clear up the problem.

If you do not know the admin of the server then please find another server to play on.

We are working with Evenbalance to find the cause of this INIT failure and will hopefully get a solution soon.

[Sophonax]

Old news are old.

I'd rather find a server not protected by Punkbuster (but still ranked) at the time of being.

[DragonheartUS]

Rebooting fixes this temporary, it will happen after a while again.
But yeah, rebooting the server will help. We have PB turned off for now.

[Bazajaytee]

Depending on your host we have given some providers a different version of PB to help pinpoint what the cause is.

As you say a reboot is a temporary fix but some hadn't seen this and we get a lot of questions about PB INIT which is why this is now a sticky even though it is "old news" for some.

[DVA-Deadly]

Cheers for the update Baza!

Nice to see DICE taking an interest in us and keeping us upto date very reguarly.

Hope the problem is sorted soon as its a little annoying getting kicked all the time, will just have to play on non punkbuster servers till the issue gets sorted.

[ASnogarD]

I found while trying to sort out this fault on my machine that the issue is that PnkBstrA.exe service times out retrieving the version number, try it yourself :

Insert BFBC 2 Disk - explore to punkbuster directory - run pbsvc_bc2.exe - test services.

It fails to retrieve the version number, and times out in about 30 secs (which coincidently is the same amount of time it takes before you get booted from a server).

I have :

Downloaded PSsetup , and updated the files
Downloaded pbsec.htm and put that in the pb directory
Downloaded wa001382.htm (win 32 version) and wc002158 (win 32 version) and placed both of these into the pb/htm directory.

I uninstalled BFBC 2 and Punkbuster, ran a reg cleaner to clear anything to do with BFBC 2 or PB , re installed BFBC 2 and Punkbuster... and repeated the steps outlined above.
Each time I test the services it times out retrieving the version, thus it kicks you out of the game.

Its that virus you guys call PunkBuster thats broke here (on top of your other server issues).
At a guess the evenbalance guys screwed up the 64bit version of the PB client.

EDIT : Oh, I am running as an admin use account, and instructed the program to start as admin, I even located and told the 2 PB servers A and B to run as admin... no joy.

EDIT 2 : Unless the fool test program is looking online for a version , but why use a test program to test your installation of PB if you will find out the hard way anyways...I mean the server will boot you when it cant retrieve the version number before the test program will tell you.

[max6ter]

About "pbsvc_bc2.exe - test services". During installation of both beta and release i had to turn off my NOD ESS cause firewall was causing few PB test to fail. However - after testing was ready i had 0 problems related to firewall in beta (no pb) and till sunday i had no probs with release. In other word - PB is lalalala. ;/

Btw. why chat ingame sometimes is working sometimes isnt working....nah nvm - why should i talk to ppl anyway... :/

[ASnogarD]

Hmm , max6ter ... thanks for that ... I disabled my Eset Smart Security firewall and ran the service test and it went through without a hitch.
Good one

[Tiuri20000]

I've not experienced this issue, below my pb test results.
It does mention that its not explicitly allowed in the firewall settings, when i manually added rules for the program it did not change the test results.
Also i have UAC off and did not modify any of the pb file properties to run these as admin.

Starting PunkBuster Service Tests (v0.988) (03/08/10 14:36:33)
Checking OS
  Windows NT 6.1 (build 7600) 64-bit PnkBstrA service status   RUNNING
Checking PnkBstrA Version          OK (1032)
Extracting "PnkBstrB.exe" to:
   "C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\PnkBstrB.exe"
                                   OK
Checking firewall settings         OFF
Is PnkBstrA explicitly allowed?
C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrA.exe   NO
Is PnkBstrB explicitly allowed?
C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrB.exe   NO
Checking if PnkBstrB is running    STOPPED
Getting port for PnkBstrA          OK (44301)
Opening socket for packet send     OK
Sending version packet to PnkBstrA SENT
Receiving version from PnkBstrA    OK
Received 6 bytes from 127.0.0.1:44301
  Response = 7660 (ms) Version = v1032
Getting PnkBstrB install instance  OK
Sending start packet to PnkBstrA   SENT
Waiting for packet from PnkBstrA   OK
Received 3 bytes from 127.0.0.1:44301
  Response = 11669 (ms) PnkBstrB started.
  Load SUCCESSFUL.
Watching for PnkBstrB instance change (4) CHANGED (5)
Getting port for PnkBstrB          OK (45301)
Sending version packet to PnkBstrB SENT
Receiving version from PnkBstrB    OK
Received 5 bytes from 127.0.0.1:45301
  Response = 3011 (ms) Version = 2202
Checking PnkBstrK driver status    NOT FOUND
Manually stopping PnkBstrB         STOPPED
Removing test PnkBstrB file        OK

----------------------------------
  Tests finished.

[SonixSquad]

I made a guide about how to update PunkBuster properly as the file pbsec.htm was not being added by PBSETUP.exe (v3.4) and you have to add this file manually.

Thread is here:
Punkbuster Failed to INIT error

sticky?

[kbrinkman]

when can we expect a patch to fix these game breaking issues?

[Squirrel6244]

Can i just add,it is good that some of you have have been able to edit your PB files,but what you have to remember,is that most players would not know where to start and what to do,so this issue needs to be fixed with a patch etc,as it not fair to expect the everyday PC user to mess with there program files,thats like asking a paper boy to control a nuclear power plant,it would all end in melt down.

Anyway at last it good to see EA working on this issue and attempting to resolve this,i have posted this onfo on server reboot on our clan site,although we did a reboot last night,and at least now we know if it happens again we just need to reboot until a perm solution is found

[ASnogarD]

Well , at least for me turning off my ESET Smart Security Firewall allowed me to join a PB server and stay on for over 30 min with no issues.

Strange though as I still cant add servers to my Favorites list ( just sits there 'waiting for data' ), but at least I can stay in a server for longer than 30 secs .... hopefully :P

[command21]

In the service of windows all ppl should have PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe runing in their process . correct ?

[DakotaDoc64]

Originally Posted by command21

In the service of windows all ppl should have PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe runing in their process . correct ?

Correct.

[halninekay]

Both services are running fine for me on my Win 7 64bit.

[STR310K-242]

PnkBstrA.exe is the service running all the time. PnkBstrB.exe launches only when the game starts.
BTW, I do not use any other PB except one that installed by the game itself, and none of pbsec.htm is found on my system. Win 7x32. I can play on some servers with no problems.

[Smokanci]

Originally Posted by ASnogarD

Strange though as I still cant add servers to my Favorites list ( just sits there 'waiting for data' ), but at least I can stay in a server for longer than 30 secs .... hopefully :P

It works faster if you add the servers from your history list.

[aianstewart]

Originally Posted by STR310K-242

PnkBstrA.exe is the service running all the time. PnkBstrB.exe launches only when the game starts.
BTW, I do not use any other PB except one that installed by the game itself, and none of pbsec.htm is found on my system. Win 7x32. I can play on some servers with no problems.

I think that if the server has been re-set, you will be ok for a while (see above) but the ones that havent will kick you. This is only temporary though
I was kicked every time yesterday, then things were ok last night, now I cant get on a server again due to punkbuster init failure

[ApolloGringo]

Originally Posted by SonixSquad

I made a guide about how to update PunkBuster properly as the file pbsec.htm was not being added by PBSETUP.exe (v3.4) and you have to add this file manually.

Thread is here:
Punkbuster Failed to INIT error

sticky?

Errm, is it me or did you just link straight back to this thread?

[sid6dot5]

Originally Posted by SonixSquad

I made a guide about how to update PunkBuster properly as the file pbsec.htm was not being added by PBSETUP.exe (v3.4) and you have to add this file manually.

Thread is here:
Punkbuster Failed to INIT error

sticky?

does not work.
only reboots of gameservers fix the issue (for me and my mates).

you might just have found servers which have been rebooted or not run PB at all after you did what you explained in your thread (which you did not link to correctly :P )

[JRantajoki]

Originally Posted by aianstewart

I was kicked every time yesterday, then things were ok last night, now I cant get on a server again due to punkbuster init failure

Just about same here. Got to one server last night. Bugger me, now id have a good chance to play for couple hours but aint gonna happen.. unless i wanna spend the 2 hours selecting weapons again and again and again and always getting kicked once i have done it.

[STR310K-242]

OK, but on Gotland servers I never have any problem. Since release day on Russia, 2 March.

[fableman]

DICE Send out a R6 update that can detect a server that needs restart and never show servers with wrong version in the server list.

Its kinda lame to ask players to tell admins to restart server,, hello its 2010 things should be automatic,, we are the robots la la lala.....

Fan DICE lite mycke källarföretag just nu. Kom på banan och visa lite svensk kvalité

[spookz0rr]

I dont see pnkbstra and pnkbstrb in processes at task manager :/

*edit* Nm found it. owned by my own stupidity