BF6 keeps dropping after about 6 minutes

Hi EA support and technical team. I am posting this because I have been trying to understand a very strange BF6 problem and need a targeted investigation rather than another generic troubleshooting checklist.

First, the most common suggestion has already been tested: **BF6 still disconnects with every game accelerator, VPN/proxy, and Steam++ fully closed.** I tested with those tools off on campus wired Internet, a mobile hotspot, and mobile tethering through another carrier; failures still occurred, and the campus connection sometimes could not establish a match at all. With an accelerator or VPN/proxy enabled, I have had both successful and failed sessions. Please do not assume that a VPN, proxy, or accelerator is the cause or reply only with “turn them all off and try again”; I have already done that, including across different network paths.

I have also covered several other common first-line checks: multiple DNS resolvers, routing and outbound firewall rules, rebuilding the game profile/cache, a full BF6 reinstall and file verification, a complete EA AntiCheat reinstall, and a clean Windows 11 installation. None produced a repeatable fix. If one of these steps is still being recommended, please identify what specific part of my documented test is missing and how it explains why the game can run normally for a long time in the same general environment, then fail again minutes later.

To avoid the usual first-line replies being repeated without addressing the evidence: **“close the VPN/accelerator” has already been tested; changing between wired, hotspot, and another carrier has already been tested; changing DNS and resetting Winsock/IP/Windows networking has already been tested; verifying or reinstalling the game, clearing caches, reinstalling EA AntiCheat, and reinstalling Windows have already been tested; and checking the firewall, routing, and third-party security/network filters has also been done.** These steps produced at most temporary success windows, followed by the same failures. They do not explain why success and failure alternate in broadly the same environment. Please review the backend authentication, device-attestation, and session-termination records instead of sending the same generic checklist again.

Since October 23, most of my BF6 sessions end after roughly 5-8 minutes with “Unknown error 0.85009S” and a return to the main menu. It can happen in a real match, in the practice range, or while I am simply idle in the menu. Sometimes I cannot even reach a match before the error appears.

The first failure happened at 17:51 on October 23, about two minutes after Steam downloaded an approximately 314 MB EA AntiCheat update. Before that, I had played for 28 minutes, 65 minutes, and 33.5 minutes without a problem. This timing is suspicious, but I am not claiming it proves the update was the cause.

The confusing part is that it is not 100% reproducible, and I have several clearly documented sessions that played normally. After reinstalling Windows 11 on October 25, the practice-range session from 18:28 to 18:46 lasted 16:32, and the BF6 TDM session from 19:39 to 19:59 completed normally with a 20:09 process lifetime. On October 26, another clear success window ran from 20:03 to 22:30: BF6 ran for 34:11 from 20:03, including multiple completed matches; another session ran 13:43 with a game accelerator enabled; another ran 18:59 with Steam++ enabled; and another ran 15:29 with a VPN/proxy enabled. These records show that BF6 can run normally for substantial periods on the same PC and under broadly similar network conditions, and that the accelerator, Steam++, or VPN/proxy state is not a decisive condition. The short disconnects returned after 22:46. On October 27, one monitored BF6 process lasted 10:11 before exiting with no error recorded, but I do not count that as a confirmed successful session because I cannot tell whether it was a normal exit or a disconnect.

What I have already tried, in detail:

1. **I tested with all accelerators and VPN/proxy tools closed first.** BF6 still failed on campus wired Internet, a mobile hotspot, and USB tethering through another carrier. The campus network also sometimes failed to establish a match at all. I then tested again with a game accelerator enabled and with a VPN/proxy enabled. Failures still happened in both states, so “close the accelerator or VPN and try again” has already been tested and is not a reliable fix. During the temporary success window, one session completed with a game accelerator on and another with a VPN/proxy on; neither setting is a consistent cause or cure.

2. **Different EA accounts.** I tested two EA accounts during the initial investigation. Both could log in and enter the game, and both reproduced the relevant short-session problem. I have no clear evidence of a ban, although only EA can check the complete backend account state.

3. **Different PCs.** I tested two PCs and saw the same general short-session behavior. BF4 could still run for 16:35 on the same PC and mobile connection, so this is not a case where every online game fails.

4. **Fresh game files and local data.** I completely reinstalled BF6 (about 69.5 GB), verified all 838 Steam files, deleted and rebuilt the Battlefield profile/cache, and cleared the EA App CEF/session cache. The problem still returned, so it does not look like one damaged game file or stale cache.

5. **Clean EA AntiCheat reinstall.** I removed the EA AntiCheat services, registry entries, and `C:\Program Files\EA\AC`, verified that they were gone, rebooted, and let the game reinstall EAAC 1.0.16162060. The service reported Running, but BF6 still failed. This rules out a simple “the service is not installed” explanation, but it cannot prove that the later authentication/attestation step is healthy.

6. **Fresh Windows installation.** I installed Windows 11 from scratch on October 25. The fresh system produced several long sessions, but failures returned later the same day. It changed the behavior temporarily, but did not provide a repeatable fix.

7. **DNS, VPN/proxy, hosts, firewall, and routing.** I tested campus, Alibaba, Google, and mobile DNS. I also tested with VPN/proxy software fully closed, checked the hosts file, and audited the default route and outbound firewall rules. A failed session still had 2,646 successful EA-domain DNS responses with no timeout, SERVFAIL, or NXDOMAIN. Later tests with a VPN/proxy or game accelerator enabled produced both successes and failures, so neither setting is a consistent cause or cure.

8. **System security and hardware-related settings.** I checked TPM/Pluton, Secure Boot, HVCI/VBS, clock synchronization, USB selective suspend, a phantom USB device, normal USB peripherals, the dock, and IPv6. Turning HVCI off did not prevent the Battlefield V disconnect.

9. **Third-party security and network drivers.** I removed or disabled Huorong, Tencent ACE, leftover WFP filters from game-accelerator software, VMware networking, Thaiphoon/MsIo64, HWiNFO_215/inpoutx64, hostcap/UWACPIDriver, and a GamePP scheduled task. Steam++, VPN/proxy software, hosts, and Steam library permissions were also tested with the relevant tools off and on. None produced a repeatable fix.

10. **Packet captures and long probes.** More than one million UDP packets were captured across the tests. In a representative failed match, traffic was still bidirectional before the failure and there was no long pause in the final minute. Separate 15-minute TCP and UDP probes completed normally, including 60/60 UDP replies. This does not look like ordinary packet loss, jitter, or a NAT timeout.

11. **Connection-close order.** In one complete failed capture, the client sent FIN first on an EA signaling connection, then closed the related game, voice, and signaling channels. This only shows which side closed TCP first. The application reason is inside encrypted TLS traffic, so the capture cannot identify it.

12. **Local ETW tracing.** I recorded kernel-level file activity around a failure. The visible activity looked like the game returning to the menu and reading normal configuration/cache/graphics/voice components. There was no obvious crash, token read failure, or EAAC file operation that explained the disconnect.

13. **Windows network resets.** I used the Windows network reset, `netsh winsock reset`, `netsh int ip reset`, `netsh int tcp reset`, and later `netcfg -d`. The first reset was also followed by a DNS change on the phone adapter, and several sessions happened to succeed afterward. Because multiple things changed together, and later resets did not reliably restore play, I do not consider this a confirmed fix.

BF4 is playable on the same PC and mobile connection, which makes this feel specific to the newer EA session/anti-cheat path. BF1 and BF5 have also shown short connection failures, and Apex has shown an EA AntiCheat verification error, but these are clues rather than proof of one shared root cause.

I am asking EA to review the timestamps and test results above against the BF6 EA AntiCheat attestation, device-status, account-entitlement, and session-termination logs. Please identify which part of the session is ending the connection and provide targeted corrective steps for this account and device. Generic advice to reinstall the game, reinstall anti-cheat, or close accelerators has already been tested and did not produce a stable fix.