EA FC 26 PC won’t launch (Javelin Anti-Cheat error)
I’m posting this after exhausting basically every fix I can find, including a full clean Windows reinstall, because this seems like an EA Javelin Anti-Cheat bug, not user error.
Problem
EA FC 26 on PC fails to launch with:
“EA Javelin Anti-Cheat encountered an error”
or
Game shows “Starting EA Javelin Anti-Cheat…” and then closes back to EA App.
The failure is random:
Sometimes first launch works
Sometimes it fails repeatedly for hours
Restarting does not reliably fix it
Because this is an anti-cheat failure, online modes cannot be played at all.
System
Laptop: Lenovo Legion 5 (16IRX9)
CPU: Intel i9-14900HX
GPU: RTX 4060
OS: Windows 11
BIOS: Latest (June 2025)
TPM: 2.0 (Ready)
Secure Boot: ON
What triggered it
This issue started around the same time I installed Call of Duty (Microsoft Store version), which made me suspect kernel-level anti-cheat conflicts, but uninstalling CoD did NOT fix the issue.
Everything I tried (fully documented)
Windows / OS
Clean Windows 11 reinstall (USB installer, deleted all partitions)
Confirmed UEFI + Secure Boot ON
Disabled Fast Startup
Disabled Memory Integrity
Disabled Core Isolation
Disabled Hyper-V
Disabled Virtualization-Based Security (VBS)
Verified in msinfo32:
Virtualization-based security: Not enabled
Verified no hypervisor running
BIOS
Disabled Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Power-drained laptop after BIOS changes
No BIOS option exists to disable Device Guard / VBS on this model
EA / Anti-Cheat
Full uninstall & reinstall of EA App
Full uninstall & reinstall of EA FC 26
Manual uninstall & reinstall of EA Javelin Anti-Cheat
Deleted all EA cache folders (Program Files, ProgramData, AppData)
Ran EA App and game as Administrator
Disabled all overlays (Discord, Steam, NVIDIA, etc.)
Xbox / CoD
Uninstalled Call of Duty
Removed Xbox Gaming Services
Disabled Xbox background services
Current verified state
Windows is clean
VBS is OFF
Hypervisor is NOT running
Secure Boot and TPM are valid
EA Javelin still fails
At this point the system is objectively in a supported configuration, yet EA FC 26 refuses to launch reliably.
Conclusion
This appears to be a compatibility bug between EA Javelin Anti-Cheat and certain Windows 11 / Lenovo Legion (Intel HX) systems.
This is not a “performance” issue or a bad install — online play is completely blocked due to anti-cheat failure.
If anyone else is experiencing this on:
Lenovo Legion laptops
Intel HX CPUs
Windows 11
please comment. I want to confirm this is a wider issue.
