Global Conflict

Hi everybody,
after not having played bf2 for about a year I wanted to give it another try, but Iexperience funny behaviour of the pnkbstrB.exe. Here a short discription:
PnkbstrA.exe is running in the taskmanager, PnkbstrB.exe is not
I updated manually on evenballance.com
I used the pbsetup file to update for bf2, it says version is actual
pbsvc.exe runs its test in which it starts pnkbstrB and shuts it down again
I start CoD4, switch to desktop, the taskmanager shows pnkbstrB is running, shut down CoD4, pnkbstrB isnt running anymore
start BF2, connect to a server, errormassage: pnkbstrB handshake failed, switch to desktop/taskmanager - it isnt running
Start/system/services: pnkbstrA is listed, pnkbstrB is not
dubbleclick on the pnkbstrB.exe icon a dos frame flashes up, but nothing else happens.

So, I hope to have given a discription anybody of you wise guys can use to think of a solution, I am out of ideas what to do.
Thanks for so far

I am having the exact same problem. I thought at one time PnkBstrB ran as a service. I did notice that PnkBstrA is located in my windows/system folder whereas PnkBstrB is in my BF2/pb folder.
Currently, as a work around, I manually run PnkBstrB.exe before firing up BF2. Keep in mind that this failed to wqrk last night while I tried to play Project Reality on one particular server. Funny, I was able to join other ones though.
Anyone please help us?

I've heard of Vista users having to give admin permission. New firewall thats blocking Pnk B?

You can empty (delete contents) your PB folder in BF2 and run pbsetup.exe from Evenbalance to get a 'clean' copy. I've always had decent luck with just running pbsetup.exe every week.
http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php

and the pbsvc faq
http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsvcfaq.php

Also, submitting tickets to evenbalance seems to resolve issues for some people.

I m using XP, SP2, Desktopfirewall disabled. Thanks for the links, perhaps Ill find something there

Hey Ash, should I delete PnkBstrA.exe from windows/system folder also?

Well, I cleaned out the pb folder and re-updated. A new PnkBstrB.exe was magically showed up in my windows/system32 folder! Maybe this will do it. We'll see in a little bit.

It worked for me! Yeah-Hay!

I guess the basic answer would have been to:
Empty your game's PB folder.
Use pbsvc.exe to uninstall and re-install the service.
Then use pbsetup.exe to update your PB games.

thanks ash, deleting the content of the gamedir/pbfolder manually seems to be it ! bf2 finally running again, thank you so much.

Ah 2 satisfied customers

RESOLVED added