Battlefield 3 Punkbuster error: no packet flow

Hey, please follow my thread here, it may provide you with a solution. http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/forum/threadview/2832654348555274410/

I've been having the same problem and I've tried your solution without any success =/

EA seriously need to get this bollocks sorted out. I haven't been able to play online in almost 18 months. That Open VPN thing is only a very temporary fix. It needs to get sorted. Pissing off a lot of people

yes, this is annoying as hell, I bought both BF4 and BF3 but I cannot play BF3 because of this.

This error just says that the Punkbuster parent server cannot communicate with your local punkbuster client service so it terminates your connection to the game. Try these steps below:

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Battlefield-4/RESTRICTION-Service-Communication-Failure-PnkBstrA-exe/m-p/1645149/highlight/true#M13458

1. Open windows firewall and make sure that your router is not blocking either of the Punkbuster files.
2. click advanced settings( on the left) and then inbound (also left)
3. Find PnkbstrA.exe and PnkbstrB.exe (if you have two of both, its fine)
4. right click on each of them>properties>programs and services
5. make sure that "all programs that meet the specifications" is checked
6. then go to the "Advanced" tab and check all 3 boxes. Domain, Private and Public.
7. REMEMBER TO DO THIS FOR ALL PnkBstr Files. then save and quit.
8. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Battlefield 3 and delete "Pb" folder.
9. go to these 2 links:
http://websec.evenbalance.com/downloader/download.php?file=1
http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/pbsvc/pbsvc.exe
10. download and install both
11. Run Pbsetup.exe (the first link)
12. manually add a game (eg. bf3) - this is an important step as sometimes it will not solve the problem until the game is manually added
13. check for updates.

Finally I solved it, after trying every possible solution on the net this is how it worked for me:

1. Connected the ISP cable directly in the computer with no Windows Firewall modifications or any other change - no PB error

2. Connected the ISP cable back in the router because I want to have internet in all the rooms - PB error

3. Did all the 13 steps from the above - PB error

4. Put a cfg file created in notepad and named pbcl.cfg in C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\PunkBuster\BF3\pb with the following text:

pb_LogToFile = 1 (0=No, 1=Yes)
pb_SsLog = 1 (0=No, 1=Yes)
pb_SsSave = 1 (0=No, 1=Yes)
PB_LOGMD5TOOL = 1 (0 to 1)
pb_Security = 0 (0=No, 1=Yes)

still got PB error

5. Disabled SPI Firewall in the router (TP-Link Archer C2) - no PB error

So the most important steps were 4 and 5, because if I deleted the .cfg file I still got that error even if the router firewall was disabled.

Also to mention that the computer which has Battlefield installed was already set to be DMZ host.

I didn't check to see if it would work without the 13 steps cause I already lost a lot of time with this, went to sleep at 5 AM... 😕mileytongue:

In BF4 I had no issues at all with the standard configuration.

Thank you ragnarok013 for the tips.

Far in 2017 and we still got the same problem... anyone have a solution ???

Thank you man, this works well for me