# Service Communication Failure



## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

My dad's BF2 continues to get kicked from any server running punkbuster.

Kicked from server for 0 minutes 
Reason:
Service Communication Failure Pnkbstra.exe

Me, my brother and my dad all have the same version of BF2 and the same version of Punkbuster.
This error only occurs on my dad's. Ive been to the punkbuster FAQ and there is a topic about this error but it dosnt fix it.
Does anyone else know another way to fix this error.

My dads pc is running Vista Basic 32-bit.

Thanks


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

ive seen several threads about this karlos.have you tried going to the pb site,and manually updating pb?that has fixed it for a few folks,and others it didnt help at all.being its under vista is it set to run as administrator?


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Ive got Vista and i didnt have a problem with it..
Ive tried going to their site and doing a manual install but nothing seems to work. Ive even copied over my punkbuster and the same message occurs. 
I will see what firewall he's using tomorrow i know its not the Vista one.
Yeah ive set both BF2 and Punkbuster to run as admin.


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

on your computer are you using the windows firewall?if so that may be the difference between your's,and your dad's machine.


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Yeah im using Vista's firewall but my dad is using one off of an A/V


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

i have a strong feeling his firewall may be filtering something pb needs to work right.


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Ok ive added all exe associated with PB to the firewall and ive narrowed it down to a port been blocked. Port number 44301.
Ive tried everything to open it. Adding it to the firewall, adding it to his A/V, added the port to the router (even tho my BP doesnt play up).
Ive disabled Windows Defender from "msconfig" thinking i was that. 
But no nothing.......
I also disabled everything edited the router to make him in a DMZ but the port was still blocked.
He did have about 2 other A/V previously. Is there anyway their config files are taking priority over the current config files for like firewall..


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

i had a software firewall installed once(i honestly forget which one)i never could get a game to work online.so i uninstalled it,and it still wouldnt work.the uninstall process left some stuff behind that was still blocking it.to be honest i never could get rid of all that mess.i had to reload the pc to make it work again.that being said it may be some leftover files from some firewall.


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Ok ive deleted every file associated with PB and reinstalled it. Ran the PB test and no errors came back everything was working. As soon as i started BF2 i was able to play for about 2mins then i was kicked by the same message. I started the PB test and now another port has been blocked. 45301.
Its driveing me mad


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## mikesg72 (Oct 27, 2007)

VISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got to LOVE the HELL out of it.. What I wanna know is how the hell you got punkbusterA or B to be allowed to connect to the gameserver. I'm playing America's Army and have searched HIGH and low for this and THIS is the best damn result I can get for the EXACT error message.


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## mikesg72 (Oct 27, 2007)

Vista SUCKS!... SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS .. oops .. wait.. you must have administrative priveledges to submit this post... oops.. are you sure?


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

go into msconfig,under services,and stop windows defender.im wondering if that is blocking something.ive seen alot of people say that pb loves a totally unprotected system.


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

mikesg72 said:


> VISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Got to LOVE the HELL out of it.. What I wanna know is how the hell you got punkbusterA or B to be allowed to connect to the gameserver. I'm playing America's Army and have searched HIGH and low for this and THIS is the best damn result I can get for the EXACT error message.


Thats simple go to your firewall options click "Allow program through firewall" (If its Windows Vista's Firewall) Then click the exception tab and click browse. PnkBstrA.exe - B.exe are located in C:\Windows\system32.
Press ok and now they are allowed through the firewall..

pharoah
Just done a complete format as im still sure its the old A/V config files left in the registry. As its my dads pc he doesn't really play BF2 much. But when he does he gets annoyed about the error, so hopefully some time this week i should have BF2 up and running.


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