Random Disconnects / "pnkbstrb.exe heartbeats stopped"

the_syco

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

What exactly does the PnkBstrA service do?

We have moved part of PunkBuster's auto-update functionality into the PnkBstrA service. This service is used by PunkBuster to update other PunkBuster components in the background while users are playing our supported games with PunkBuster enabled. By moving this functionality and others into services and drivers, the part of PunkBuster that runs inside the game no longer needs Administrator rights.


What other components does PnkBstrA update?

There are currently two other new components, another service called PnkBstrB and a kernel driver called PnkBstrK. These are not installed by the PBSVC Setup Program. They are installed and/or updated on the fly by PnkBstrA when a game is launched with PunkBuster enabled. PnkBstrB and PnkBstrK help PunkBuster look for cheats while users are playing on PunkBuster enabled servers.

PnkBstrA & PnkBstrA are needed, so I'm going to create rules for them in my firewall, and see how I get on.

So I did a search for PnkBstr, and found the following:

c:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BC2\pb\PnkBstrA.exe
c:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BC2\pb\PnkBstrB.exe
c:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BC2\pb\PnkBstrK.sys
c:\Windows\Prefetch\PNKBSTRB.EXE-73012C88.pf
c:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\PunkBuster\PnkBstrA.log
c:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\PunkBuster\PnkBstrB.log
c:\Windows\System32\PnkBstrA.exe
c:\Windows\System32\PnkBstrB.exe
c:\Windows\System32\PnkBstrB.xtr
c:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrA.exe
c:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrB.exe
c:\Windows\SysWOW64\PnkBstrB.xtr

Will create rules for them all, to see how it effects me.

=-=

Putting this up here, as it may help someone else. I'm using Windows 7 (thus it says Users instead of Documents and Settings) 64bit (thus the SysWOW64 folder).

/edit
Couldn't add the following:

c:\Windows\System32\PnkBstrA.exe
c:\Windows\System32\PnkBstrB.exe
c:\Windows\System32\PnkBstrB.xtr

Even though they came up in the search, they're not there :S I'm putting this down to this being a 64bit OS, and they just redirect the program to the SysWOW64 folder when it looks for the files...

the_syco

Started to get the errors again, even though they're allowed through the firewall :S

BostonB

Do you get an error or does it just disconnect?

Wonda-Boy

I never get any error message. Just a CTD and have to reload, funny its usually at the very start of the night.

BostonB

Can't help you. I just installed W7 64 and getting some odd errors myself with COD4

the_syco

BostonB: welcome. From google, it seems you may be affected in CoD.

I've gone into c:\Windows\SysWOW64\ and went into the properties for both PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe and in the Compatibility tab, I've set both to "Run as an Administrator". From reading up on the subject, both programs need them to have rights, so I'm hoping this will assist them. Before doing so, I've ended them in Task Manager, so when I go in-game, I'm hoping they'll reactivate, and run with Admin privileges.

BostonB

I actually did that and been playing for a while tonight. Mind you sometimes you get kicked only on some servers.

TheReverend

Reinstall punkbuster from http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php that fixed it for me ages ago when i was playing WaW

the_syco

Meh. Getting random CTD, with a message about my graphics card recovering from a fault. Screw it. Going to duel boot XP - it ran smoothly for the beta.