[PC/Steam] Stuck on EA Javelin Anticheat splash - 0xC0000005 in EAAC DLL
Battlefield V (Steam) never gets past the "Starting EA Javelin Anticheat..." splash.
EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher.dll crashes about 1 second after launch and EA's own
Crash Report Handler appears. Minidumps attached.
Environment
- Windows 11 25H2, build 26200.9711 (UEFI + GPT), 16 GB RAM
- Secure Boot: ENABLED (UEFISecureBootEnabled=1), TPM 2.0 present/ready
- Smart App Control: off. Microsoft Defender only, real-time on, zero detections
- Battlefield V, Steam AppID 1238810, build 15984572
- EA app 13.809.0.6322 installed and signed in
Crash evidence (Windows Error Reporting + minidumps)
- EAAntiCheat.GameServiceLauncher.dll 0xC0000005 @ 0x000000000149122F
- EAAntiCheat.GameService.dll 0xC0000005 @ 0x000000000237053F
- exception parameter = read access to 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE),
so the code dereferences a failed handle/device lookup
- loaded modules in the dump: only EA DLLs + Microsoft system DLLs (no overlay/injection)
- Service Control Manager 7009 (90 s timeout), 7000, "sc start" 1053
Already tried, identical result every time
1. Enabled Secure Boot (it was off before) - no change
2. Full wipe of anticheat state (services EAAntiCheatService / EAAntiCheat deleted,
HKLM\SOFTWARE\EA\AC removed, C:\Program Files\EA\AC moved away, game EAAntiCheat*
files removed), then reinstall with EA's own commands:
EAAntiCheat.Installer.exe --noui --install --read-cfg
EAAntiCheat.Installer.exe --noui --install --title "Battlefield V"
EAAntiCheat.Installer.Tool.exe install -title bfv
The installer always logs "Installed EA Anti-Cheat." but the service still fails.
3. Several reboots, including after enabling Secure Boot
4. Verified there is no driver-install restriction policy, WDAC custom policy,
AppInit_DLLs, IFEO entry or exploit-protection override on this machine
Note: a stale key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EAAntiCheat points to
system32\drivers\eaanticheat.sys, but that file does not exist anywhere on disk and
none of the current EAAntiCheat binaries reference any .sys file, so it looks like a
leftover from an older anticheat version.
Question: why does the anticheat dereference 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF on this system, and is
there a fixed anticheat build or a workaround? Happy to provide full dumps and logs.
