PnkBstrB.exe Handshaking Failed

[MrJacky]

I have the exact same problem, and yes, it happens as soon as you get off the server.

You only have to uninstall the PunkBuster services if you get the problem, using pbsvc.exe. Once you go on a server, it will install by itself. So far I have not got any "handshaking" errors using this method.

[M][n][on]

o did i mention that i even get the same damn problem in COD4....... so now basically i have bought two games that are made for mainly for multiplayer, only to be stuck playing the same singleplayer games over and over again...... I think this problem has been present for MORE then a yr now and i say if evenbalance cant fix the problem (which is obvious they cant) then they must refund the games i cant play because of them!!!!!! What i can see is that all i have done was pay $100 4 two games that are like demos now!!!

[ThuQMin]

I have been having this problem and tried all the suggestions. Today I re-installed the 1.41 patch and it seems to be fine. It may be pre-mature to say this is the solution but it's worth a try. Good luck.

T

[Darcal]

I'm currently renting a BF1942 server and I keep getting kicked from it because of PB. The weird thing is that when I first connect to it PB works fine, but when my server eventually changes the map I get kicked about 30 seconds after it's loaded. It either says PnkBstrB.exe initialization or handshaking failed.

I've read all of this thread and tried everything but it looks like there's a major fault with PB that needs fixing by the developers. I understand this has been going on for almost a year. It's all very disappointing really.

I could quite easily run my rented server without PB but that would only attract cheaters who look for non-PB servers.

Even Balance should surely go back to an earlier version of PB that actually works.

I don't think there's much some of us can do but just forget about PB supported games until it's sorted out. EA ought to be really pissed off about this.

[bhuffy]

I suggest you update your punkbuster at evenbalance.com

[Darcal]

The thing is I did all that. I completely uninstalled PB on my computer and reinstalled it, but was still having the same problem on my server.

Here's the bit where I eat some of my words though: I got bored of trying to connect to my server with PB running so I disabled it and everything worked fine. Later though I decided to go back and connect to some other BF1942 servers running PB and guess what... I didn't get kicked once. I dare say I did have a corrupt installation of it on my computer because the problem was occuring before I started renting the server, but it obviously worked fine after I'd reinstalled it. So obviously it was corrupt on my server aswell and I thought it was still my computer to blame. I didn't think the server was at fault because I only subscribed to it a few days ago and I set it to use a fresh installation of the game. Anyway, I tried deleting the contents of my server's pb folder via FTP and downloaded the relevant files to put back in it. When I restarted my server it was cured basically.

We shouldn't have to delve into all this jargon though. It's a widely used anti-cheat system for some very successful games, so it should be more user-friendly I think.

Okay so maybe it does work properly but it should tidy up after itself as it's auto-updating. Then we wouldn't have all these corrupt instances of it on our systems.

[Pure]

The Punkbuster version that comes with the game is very old. Many changes has been made so it is always best to delete the 'pb' folder and install the latest version with the PBSETUP tool. Before starting the game or server.

[M][n][on]

I'm sry to say that all of these recent post of solutions do not solve this problem for most, those were actually the very first ideas suggested...

[ColonelDracula]

Try this:

pb_sleep 500
pb_writecfg 1

(The problem stems from Pnkbstr.B not updating fast enough for the server's liking....i.e., everything's where it should be but the server and pnkbstr.b miss each other due to bad timing.)

[M][n][on]

Originally Posted by ColonelDracula

Try this:

pb_sleep 500
pb_writecfg 1

(The problem stems from Pnkbstr.B not updating fast enough for the server's liking....i.e., everything's where it should be but the server and pnkbstr.b miss each other due to bad timing.)

thanks for the input never heard of tha,t how excatly do i try it though