Punk Buster Service Communication Failure

If you have been getting the Punk Buster "Service Communication Failure" when connecting online, you're not alone. This has been a serious problem since their July 25th release:

Version 1.719 of the PB Client for COD2 has been released to our PB Master Servers for auto-update and to our website download page.

Release Notes for PB Client v1.719:

• the new PB services are no longer optional, see our PB Services FAQ for more info
• the new PB services now support 64 bit flavors of Windows

It seems that their latest release, Version 1.725 A1383 of the PB Client for CoD2, which was released to the PB Master Servers for auto-update and to their website download page and is described as a "maintenance release" may have fixed some of these problems.

One of our BASH Boards regulars, JohnDoe|EagleEye| had this problem and gives us this fix:

For the moment I seem to have fixed the "service communication failure". I don´t know if it was the new PB update (v1725 Sat 4 of August 2007) or a PB command I introduced that fixed the problem. Anyway...I will tell you what i did:

1) Connected to a server and get kicked for "Service communication Failure"
2) Unistalled the PnkBstrA and PnkBstrB services with the pbsvc.exe
3) Reinstalled the two services
4) Updated the PB version manually to v1725 with the Pbsetup.exe program
5) Ran CoD multiplayer
6) Entered PB command: /pb_security 0 using the console
7) Connected to my Clan Server
8) Played normally.

I still want to see what happens in the following days.I hope the issue doesn´t show up again

NOTE:

PB_Security [0=no, 1=yes]:

When set to 0, PunkBuster will accept all "update" files without verifying that they are authentic; the default is 1 which should not normally be changed except for LAN environments where there is no Internet Access and/or you fully trust the Servers you are connecting to.

Let us know if *you* are having problems with Punk Buster. If you are register in our forums and tell us about it in our Tech section.

Punk Buster Duplicate GUID/CD Key Error

Has PunkBuster booted you off servers lately for the "Duplicate GUID/CD Key" error?

You're not alone.

Of course if you have a bootlegged disk ...then you've been caught with your hand in the digital cookie jar.

However, assuming you are indeed running a unique, legitimate copy of CoD (or any other PB supported game) there are many reasons why this error could have occurred.

Not the least of which is that the PunkBuster program failed to auto-update itself. Perhaps your firewall prevented it? Perhaps you had a computer crash or power outtage during the update procedure (that's what happened to me!).

Well, this is how you fix your PB and get yourself back to playing CoD. Go to PB's website and use the setup program they provide and use it to manually update PunkBuster.

http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php

If you are an MS Windows client, download: pbsetup.exe

There are other setup programs for Linux and Mac users. Run the program and it will update that badboy for ya!

Remember, when PB kicks you for no good reason - kick back.

We've been punked: Update #3

I wanted to post an answer I received from Even Balance's technical folks on an issue I and many of you have run into when setting up PunkBuster on your computer:

Here's the question I posed to Even Balance Technical Support:

I would like to create a Windows XP account profile - with limited priveleges to run CoD2 online. I moved CoD2 to a shared directory. It runs fine. But after a few seconds after going into a server I'm getting an O/S Priveleges error from PB.

How do I rectify this situation?

Glenn Courington from Even Balance answered:

When our PB Services are completely utilized in CoD2 (they are not at this point) it will be possible to run the games as a limited user on PB-enabled servers. Until that time, you will still need to run the game as an Administrator.

I must tell you that running CoD as an admin opens you up to internet security issues, so I would like to please ask the PB guys to see if they can make this issue a priority!

Relevant posts:

PunkBuster

We've been punked! *UPDATE 2*: Lowkee edition

BASH...the Blog reader, Lowkee (BF2142 player) made a stunning discovery recently and posted it in the comments section in our article on the PunkBuster lag article on this website (We've been punked! *UPDATE 1*).

I did not want his comments buried, so I am posting them here. Please read if you have been having lag issues with Punk Buster:

Although it pains me to release this fix where EvenBalance can read it and give me absolutely no credit for wasting hours of my life in finding a solution, here is a proof of concept, as such, of the PunkBuster service bug:

Trillian == lag in-game
ICQ == lag in-game
ATI Control Center == lag in-game
Winamp == lag in-game (in certain instances)

What do these programs all have in common? Global Hotkeys.

It seems the new PB service chokes if any application hooks into for global hotkey support. So, disabling global hotkeys in all of your application will bring your FPS rate back to normal with no more slowdown due to PB beta testing on your PC.

As an added FPS boost, setting the following in your BF 2142 (or any other PB enabled game) console will also help:

(type in the game console)
pb_system 1
pb_sleep 500
pb_writecfg

Happy playing everyone, in spite of PunkBuster.

-Lowkee

This is an awesome find. Lowkee. I've been having issues myself with PB (as with nearly all my COD2 friends) and your comments are quite interesting. I am running Itunes (I believe that program uses Global Hotkeys).

I'll be experimenting with this and report back with any positive information.

I would encourage our readership to do the same. Please post your findings in the comments section of this post.

THANK YOU LOWKEE! And keep up the good work!

We've been punked! *UPDATE 1*

BASH has just received a straightforward reply from Evenbalance regarding the lag induced by their latest Punkbuster update.

As you can read in the BASH article We've been punked!, Evenbalance has added two background processes that run while Call of Duty (or any other Punkbuster enabled game) is running; namely: PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe.

A few days ago, we opened a ticket with Evenbalance and asked them the following questions:

While we greatly appreciate all the efforts you folks are doing to keep us playing in a Cheat-Free environment, the lag induced by the new update has caused some issues.

Can you explain what has caused the lag and if there are any solutions to mitigate it. Currently there are community workarounds.

I have posted a few on my blog. I am sure you cannot sanction such activity; however, can you suggest what we CAN do? Currently your 2 new executables (PnkBstrA and B) are eating up a significant amount of CPU resources and undoubtedly contributing to a slowdown in-game. I would greatly appreciate any information you can provide my readers/listenership.

Glenn Courington, from Evenbalance, replies:

04/16/2007 14:39:41 - "Glenn Courington"

Note #2: As your blog states, yes, these new services will take additional CPU cycles, as this is by design to use CPU cycles that aren't allocated to the game or other processes.

As for the "solutions" posted, no, those wouldn't be solutions. While it hasn't been initiated yet, it will soon be required to run these services to play on a PB server. Uninstalling them or turning them off will result in a kick from the server.

As for lag issues, we have been making updates to correct such issues, and we will continue to do so as needed.

http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsvcfaq.php

So there you have it. Please ensure that you do NOT remove the PunkBuster background processes.

Hopefully, Evenbalance will sort out the lag issues.

If anyone is having lag issues, please let us know. You can email us here at BASH:

jockyitch@devil-dogz.com



Additional articles:

remove those un-needed processes
protect yourself from malware

We've been punked!

Has anyone noticed increased lag, higher pings, packet loss, lower FPS and loss of system resources lately when playing online?

Well, it can probably traced to the latest Punkbuster updates.

The latest updates of Punkbuster have certainly wreaked havoc with us here in the COD2 community.

What you may not have noticed is that Evenbalance (the authors of PunkBuster) have added two new processes to their PB suite:

PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe!

That brings them up to a grand total of four processes total - all robbing you of system resources while your playing, albeit for a good cause, I suppose.

What are these new services? Try reading this:

http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsvcfaq.php

Beginning with PunkBuster client version 1.500, we have extended the PunkBuster Anti-Cheat system to operate without the requirement to run PunkBuster supported games with Administrator privileges when running under Windows 2000, XP, or Vista. In order to do this, we have developed new Windows service components to work with the PunkBuster system. We are currently conducting open beta testing for the new service components. To participate in the open beta testing, issue the "pb_installservice" command in your game console after joining a server (at this point, you must still be running as the Administrator user). This command will attempt to install a new PunkBuster service called PnkBstrA. Alternatively, the PBSVC Setup Program can be used as a standalone installer/uninstaller for the PnkBstrA service; PBSVC can be downloaded from here. Once the PnkBstrA service is running along with a new PB client version 1.500 and higher, running PB enabled games under Windows 2000, XP or Vista no longer requires Administrator privileges.

It appears that both executables are part of the latest Punkbuster update. And one, PnkBstrB.exe seems to be looking for cheats on your drive.

The upshot is a very significant increase in system resources while playing. Try bringing up your Task Manager while playing to take a peek. Some people are seeing 30-40% of the their CPU resources being taken over! This is higher than what COD uses most times.

While my initial anger at this made me point to PB...the real culprit is the cheating hacker! Well what can you do about it?

SOLUTIONS?

BASH has found a few solutions that have been found successful by non-COD gamers and we post them here. We have not tried them out and you should use them with great caution:


A. This was found referenced on http://forum.americasarmy.com

1. Click on the start menu, click on Run.... Type services.msc.
2. Under services find PnkBstrA. Right click it and stop it from the option in the drop-down menu.
3. Now double click it. On startup type select disabled.
4. Repeat 2 and 3 for PnkBstrB.
4. Go to your windows/system32 folder.
5. Find the two files, PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe and delete them.
6. Go to AA/system/pb folder.
7. Delete PnkBstrB.exe and PnkBstrK.
8. Go to http://www.americasarmy.com/includes/bumper.php?goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.evenbalance.com%2Findex.php%3Fpage%3Dpbsetup.php and download the pbsetup for your operating system.
9. Install. Select game directory and update PB.


B. Also from americasarmy

1) delete Punkbuster folder contents in system folder
2) goto start>control panel>administrative tools>services
3) goto extended tab select PnkBstrA. Double click it to see properties you will see a drop down menu select disabled.
4) goto PnkBstrB Double click it to see properties you will see a drop down menu select disabled.
5 ) Download this for your OS http://www.evenbalance.com/ind...tup.php
6) run pbsetup select your game directory and update PB
7) should be gone now go play with out lag!

Both solutions are similar. The folks who have come up with the solutions say their lag was gone once they performed the tweaks and PunkBuster has not kicked them from any server.

The jury is still out on these fixes...stay tuned.


Notes:

Punkbuster support is apparently telling its users that CPU usage has increased with this latest update; however, PB will use "unused" CPU cycles as it completes scanning your system for hacks. They are stating that this will not be detrimental to gameplay.


Related posts:

remove those un-needed processes

protect yourself from malware