Wanted to add a few things.
I downloaded and reinstalled BF2042 a couple of times. I've tried to repair from 'manage' in launcher. I've installed and updated the EA launcher several times. I've downloaded and updated EAC. Aside from a clean boot I've tried to close all other processes manually. I've downloaded and reinstalled BF1 with the same result, currently trying BFV as well. Other games are running fine.
more to add
BFV also didn't run, but instead of just shutting down like 1&2042 it just hung, using around 20% processing power and never showed any error or actually crashed.
When repairing BF2042 from launcher you can provoke (if you press no to let it run) an EAC error message that says 'service update failed, please allow administrator rights and visit easy.ac/support. I've tried all the support they suggest. I've successfully followed the two links and got '200 - HTTP OK' - SFC / Scannow DID find something and corrected it, with no obvious change or further success.
I don't have time to run a root kit before tomorrow, I'll try that, but I mean, it ran before so idk.
