Failed to connect to EA online, please try again
Hi All,
I have read so many post online about the "failed to connect to EA online, please try again" posts and very little response from any companies involved, EA, DICE, STEAM etc so I thought I would post up the continuing problems I have been having along with the steps I have taken to resolve the issues & the comments from both Steam and EA.
The issue
I purchased Battlefield 2 Bad Company from STEAM and played around 16 hours before trying to get online. When I try and connect, I am able to log in but never see any servers and I finally get the "failed to connect to EA online, please try again"
This appears to be pretty common for people so I decided to contact both EA and Steam and ask for their help in getting it resolved.
What follows is the conversations I have been having with both Steam and EA.
EA are up first
Chat Transcript 12/12/2010 11:54 AM
Hi, my name is Cody. How may I help you?
Wayne Edmonds: I have the same problem before... I dont appear to be able to get any servers to display. I get them some times for about 1 search and then nothing. I reported it the other day : XXXXXXX
Wayne Edmonds: Is there another problem because I have not really had a chance to play since I bought the game and I am near to asking for a refund
Wayne Edmonds: I have also bought BF Vietnam pre-order but I am thinking of cancelling as I never see servers
Cody: OKay, I f you want then I can cancel your order .
Wayne Edmonds: Well, is there a problem with the servers at the moment?
Cody: No/.
Cody: All servers are currently up and running .
Wayne Edmonds: Ok, How do i get a refund on the Battlefield 2 Bad Company that I purchased on Steam and
How do I get a refund on the preorder?
Cody: Please provide me the order number for that order please .
Wayne Edmonds: You mean the S/N of the game?
Cody: No.
Cody: The order number.
Wayne Edmonds: Could this be it: XXXXXXX
Wayne Edmonds: and this for the pre-order: XXXXXXXX
Cody: No.
Wayne Edmonds: That is the confirmation number I received from Steam
Cody: It will be of 10 digits.
Wayne Edmonds: When I purchase a game from Steam I only receive one email for each purchase. It only has that number
Cody: Okay,
Cody: May I have that E-mail address please .
Wayne Edmonds: XXXXXXXXX
Cody: Okay, let me check this >
Wayne Edmonds: Ok thank you
Cody: Thanks .
Cody: I am sorry, but with this E-mail address you've ordered only spore game >
Wayne Edmonds: I can assure you that I have purchased many games through Steam with this email address.
Wayne Edmonds: I can give you the S/N of the game if that helps?
Cody: No.
Cody: Okay,
Cody: Let me check that .
Wayne Edmonds: Sorry, did you want the S/N or are you checking my email address?
Cody: Yes, please please provide me your serial number.
Wayne Edmonds: ok 1 sec
Cody: sure.
Wayne Edmonds: XXXXXXXXX
Cody: Okay
Cody: I am unable to search your order.
Wayne Edmonds: XXXXXXXXX typo sorruy
Cody: Okay,
Cody: I am sorry but in this case,
Cody: Unfortunately we can not issue a refund directly unless you purchased the software from our EA Store. If it was ordered from our store then please send it back to the return address on the invoice page that came in the box.
If you did purchase the game from another retailer, you will need to contact them to get details on what is needed to return the software. In most cases a store will only accept software that has not been opened. If that is the case our warranty department will exchange your opened copy for a sealed copy so you can get it returned.
Send the game with a photo copy of the receipt to our warranty department requesting the exchange. Our shipping address can be found on the last page of the game manual or at the bottom of
http://support.ea.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/124
Wayne Edmonds: er ok but I did not buy from a store etc. I purchased through Steam and the game does not appear to work multiplayer.
Cody: Well,
Cody: You are not able to find any servers .
Cody: Right ?
Wayne Edmonds: I just receive the message, cannot log onto EA online but I am logged in as it always logs in fine
Wayne Edmonds: I get to search and 1 out of 10 times it will see servers.
Cody: Please refer the link given below :-
http://support.ea.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/111
Wayne Edmonds: Yes I tried that.... when I click reset the game crashes
Wayne Edmonds: I have also turned the firewall off and even opend every possible port.
Wayne Edmonds: Still the same.
Wayne Edmonds: Judging by other users online.... its not uncommon
Cody: I am sorry but in this case I am exhausted with any further troubleshooting steps.
Cody: I apologize but for further assistance I need to escalate this issue to higher level.
Wayne Edmonds: I also cannot run 2.Run the BFBC2Updater application as it does not exist on Steam
Cody: You will be contacted soon through email by our senior department.
Wayne Edmonds: Ok, can you do that please?
Cody: Yes.
Cody: I am really sorry that I was not able to help you in your issue.
Wayne Edmonds: When is soon?
Cody: Is there anything else to assist you, Please let me know about.
I will be happy to help you.
Cody: within 24-48 hours .
Wayne Edmonds: OK... Thanks
Cody: Okay, Thanks for contacting to EA Games Support.
Good bye & take care.
'
Wayne Edmonds' disconnected ('Concluded by End-user').
First contact
So that was the first contact I had with EA.
While waiting for EA to come back to me, i thought I would contact Steam.
Before I show you what Steam have said to date, I will post up the latest EA chat.
Second contact with EA
Response (Danny K.) 12/13/2010 11:08 AM
Hello Fellow Gamer,
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts Customer Support regarding BFBC2. I do apologize for any delay in my response. I have been assigned to your issue, and would be happy to assist you in this matter. As a gamer myself, I understand how frustrating these types of things can be.
There is a tool we use with one of our other online games called UOTrace, which allows you to test your connection to our servers quite easily but it will need to be ran from a PC on the same network. Please do the following:
1) Click on
http://support.uo.com/latency.html, and download the UOTrace program.
2) After installing this, open the program. If a pop up box appears telling you UO Server List not found, click 'No'.
3) Click the 'Options' menu at the top of the window, and select 'Advanced'.
4) Next, in the rectangular window with a drop down menu, type in the server name easo.ea.com with no spaces please. If you get a DNS lookup failed error, please make sure that you typed the name correctly.
5) Click the button labeled 'Trace Route', which is the fourth button from the left.
6) After the trace route has completed, click the 'Poll' button, which is two buttons to the right of the trace route button. This tells your computer to send data packets to the host server.
7) Let it send around 10 or so packets then select 'Stop Poll'.
8) Now, click 'Edit' then 'Copy'.
9) Open a blank text file, such as Microsoft's Notepad, and select 'Edit' then 'Paste'.
10) Attach the file to this incident so we can see any connectivity issues that may be present.
Danny K
EA Online Support
Customer By Web Form (Wayne Edmonds) 12/15/2010 11:06 AM
I have found a few links on the web telling me what ports to open UDP and TCP but still the same problem.
They say:
TCP 80,13505,18121,18126,,18390,18395
UDP 1000,18126,18395
All the above I have applied.
I re ran the same program you supplied and the same results.
Clearly there is a serious problem with this game. I am gutted because I have always played the entire series etc for years.
I am sure you guys know there is a problem.... What else can be causing the issue when the ISP is saying no, the firewall is open and even turned off to make double sure. Software fireawll uninstalled and still nothing.
Advice welcome.
Response (Danny K.) 12/15/2010 08:54 AM
Greetings,
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.
I've reviewed your UO trace and found a problem. It's either caused by not letting the trace grab enough packets, or you have something that is blocking your connection to our servers almost 100%. The UO Trace as you can see is mostly 0's in some of the essential places where information is needed. If you didn't let the UO Trace grab anywhere from 10-100 packets, please reattach it. If you did, then please see if you can connect directly to the modem and bypass all routers and such to see if that's specifically what's blocking your connection.
If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at
http://support.ea.com/.
Thank you,
Customer By Web Form (Wayne Edmonds) 12/15/2010 09:07 AM
Yeah I did let it grab for a while.
Can you tell me the correct list of ports etc that need to be opened in order to get authentication working and connection to the servers?
I have turned off all firewalls etc but I will start by going back and doing it all again. Battlefield Vietnam is approaching and it would be good if I could get this working in time for the release.
Response (Danny K.) 12/15/2010 11:50 AM
Greetings,
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.
Sorry for the delay. What type of connection are you running off of specifically? Wired, wireless, wireless bridge? Are you connecting through a public network (College, work etc)?
If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at
http://support.ea.com/.
Thank you,
EA Online Support
Customer By Web Form (Wayne Edmonds) 12/15/2010 02:13 PM
I am connecting from home via BT Broadband running approx 8mb
I am connected via Ethernet but have tried this via Wireless also.
I have Windows 7, 64bit with 4gb RAM.
Intel Quad 2.4ghz
Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS 512mb
I am fully up to date on drivers also.
Customer By Web Form (Wayne Edmonds) 12/16/2010 02:15 PM
Hi Danny,
Any further thoughts on this please?
Regards
Wayne Edmonds
Response (Danny K.) 12/16/2010 02:18 PM
Greetings,
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.
I assume you've already tried bypassing the router, connecting directly to the modem?
If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at
http://support.ea.com/.
Thank you,
Customer Wayne Edmonds 12/16/2010 11:52 PM
I am in the UK and as such only have the option of connecting via ethernet to a BT Home Hub. You cannot connect any other way. I have disabled the firewall on this but I dont think the firewall is the issue.
If the firewall were the issue, It would never allow a connection out to your servers.
On very rare occasions I am able to see your servers but they only appear 1 attempt out of 10 and for around 1 minute or until I get the cannot connect to EA servers message.
Customer Wayne Edmonds 12/18/2010 01:07 PM
Guys,
I am at a loss with your lack of help and lack of acknowledement that there is a problem.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam came live today and my pre-purchase went through on Steam despite me asking them to cancel it.
Part of me was happy as I thought the new addition might allow me to play.
Sure enough it did... I managed to get onto the servers for around 2 hours and play vietnam. Then I got kicked and guess what?
Yep, the problem is EXACTLY the same. Cannot see servers.
What we can deduce from this is that my firewall and settings are not the problem. I have changed nothing and yet I am no longer able to play despite being able to earlier.
So, please provide me with the next list of instructions so that I can perform them.
Regards
Wayne Edmonds
The chat with STEAM
The following is still on going but here is the chat that I have been having with Steam up to this evening:
1 Message by you on Sun, 12th Dec 2010 12:00 pm
I purchased Battlefield 2 Bad Company and despite trying everything to get the multiplayer side of the game working, I cannot.
I have spoken to EA twice and they are unable to fix and said that I should speak to you guys to get a refund for both products as they were not purchased throught he EA store.
I have also purchased Battlefield Vietnam on pre-order and need to cancel this also as it will clearly not work either.
Wayne Edmonds
2 Message by you on Sun, 12th Dec 2010 12:13 pm
Its obvious now that the game has some serious problems. The following two links show lots of people with exactly the same problem as me.
http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-bad-company-2-pc/942653-do-you-get-frequent-crashes-75.html
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/45/431188.page
As I have a Windows7 64 bit server, Its clear that EA/DICE have issues and I do not intend to waste my time on the product anymore.
I would therefore request a refund on both products purchased through steam:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam Pre-Order
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Battlefield Bad Company 2
Regards
Wayne Edmonds
3 Message by Support Tech Bret on Tue, 14th Dec 2010 9:15 am Hello Wayne,
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
We cannot refund your purchase as you have played over 16 hours of this game.
We cannot give you a partial refund for just the multiplayer portion of the game.
4 Message by you on Wed, 15th Dec 2010 10:25 am
Its great that you guys consider that the problem is solved and close the ticket.
Very respectful.
Yes I have played 16 hours of SINGLE PLAYER. I have not played the multiplayer which is a MASSIVE part of the game and something that I am sure you recognise.
Clearly the game has a major issue otherwise I would not be complaining.
I have spoken to EA who have said that the only reason they have not refunded me is that I did not buy it from their shop.
I have spoken with there first line support and their senior support who have tried a number of things and still the problem remains.
I have turned off my router firewall, my software firewall and still cannot see the online servers.
I have spoken to my ISP and they have said that all is OK.
EA provided me a tool to trace the path and accepted that I could not see their servers.
You will no doubt note that I have never contacted Steam support before for a refund on a product I have purchased and will also note that I have i ever brought a game back to a shop in over 25 years of gaming.
I have even pre-ordered the Vietname expansion for Battlefield 2 Bad Company. Does this sound like a person that wants to get his money back on a game after playing 16 hours???? No, clearly it does not.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to have you or EA sort out the connection problems but to date, none of you have been able.
I would once again respectfully ask for a refund as the game clearly has a problem which is on going as found on countless forums all over the web.
I am now speaking to Watchdog in the UK and will be forwarding all correspondence to them at their request. Further more, I have decided to take what ever legal action is necessary to get this resolved as this is not the sort of response I would expect to a loyal customer who has a genuine problem.
I also request AGAIN for the pre-order to be cancelled as it will clearly not work.
5 Message by Support Tech Bret on Wed, 15th Dec 2010 1:05 pm Hello Wayne,
What happens when you try to play multiplayer?
6 Message by you on Wed, 15th Dec 2010 2:10 pm
In order to connect to Multiplayer you need to Log in which I am able to do.
I then click on Search for Severs and nothing comes up.
After 2 or 3 attempts at selecting different search options I receive, a message saying that I could not connect to the EA servers, please try again.
On very rare occasions, I see some servers and I am able to connect for around 5 minutes before being kicked off with a message saying that the connection have been lost and to try again.
Then I see no servers and cannot connect again.
Many people say its because you dont have the latest patch and that you should run the update tool that comes with the boxed retail version. However, having purchased this from Steam you do not have this tool.
Steam says the product is fully up to date.
7 Message by you on Thu, 16th Dec 2010 2:14 pm
Hi Bret,
Could you please escalate my complaint to a more senior person and respond to my request.
Kind regards
Wayne Edmonds
8 Message by Support Tech Arnold on Thu, 16th Dec 2010 6:09 pm
Hello Wayne,
Please send me a copy of your conversation with this third party support team, which outlines what steps you’ve taken to try to get the game working on your computer and I will investigate this matter further.
Also, provide a screenshot of any error(s) you are seeing.
Then, follow the instructions linked below to provide a diagnostic report for your system.
Title: Saving a Screenshot on a PC
Link:
http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9943-WOLN-6452
Title: How to run and submit MSINFO32 Info reports
URL:
http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1376-WTZN-9132
Note: Please make sure your operating system is updated fully before running the report.
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp
9 Message by you on Fri, 17th Dec 2010 10:28 am
Hi Arnold,
Thank you for coming back to me and trying to help.
1. I dont appear to be able to get a screen shot for some reason. I tried a number of ways including the method in the link but it does not display it when I paste. I am able to log in succesfully by clicking "Log In" and after a few moments it logs me in as "XXXXXX" and shows me a private. I then click multiplater>browse servers>search at which point the little icon spins around and after about 1-2 minutes it shows the message: "Failed to connect to EA online, please try again". Its the same screen as this guy has on the link and also sounds like the same problem:
http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-bad-company-2-pc/946836-failed-connect-ea-online-please-try-again-error.html
Its important to note that on very rare occasions, 1-10 I get to see servers and even play for about 5 minutes but then I get kicked and receive the same message.
2. Please find attached the msinfo32.nfo file as requested. I did ensure I was fully up to date before running it.
3. Please find attached a text file which contains the chats to date with EA via email and online chat. Its starts from the bottom with the chat on line and then escalates to their senior support which is continues to be with now.
4. Please find attached the traceroute results as request from EA and acknowledges as part of the problem. I am unable to see their servers. This again would appear to say that its not an issue with my firewall.
Look forward to you reply!
Kind regards
Wayne Edmonds
msinfo32.nfo (File Size : 1.1 MB)
eachattodate.txt (File Size : 11.6 KB)
tracerouteforea.txt (File Size : 1.2 KB)
10 Message by you on Fri, 17th Dec 2010 10:38 am
Arnold,
I have to admit, while sitting here and googling "failed to connec to EA online, please try again" there are thousands of people with the same problem and no one has done anything. There are even youtube videos....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVYnpDURYCk
11 Message by you on Sat, 18th Dec 2010 1:05 pm
Guys,
I am at a loss with your lack of help and lack of acknowledement that there is a problem.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam came live today and my purchase went through. This was despite me requesting that you cancel it 2 times.
Part of me was happy as I thought the new addition might allow me to play.
Sure enough it did... I managed to get onto the servers for around 2 hours and play vietnam. Then I got kicked and guess what?
Yep, the problem is EXACTLY the same. Cannot see servers.
What we can deduce from this is that my firewall and settings are not the problem. I have changed nothing and yet I am no longer able to play despite being able to earlier.
So, please provide me with the next list of instructions so that I can perform them.
Regards
Wayne Edmonds
The latest
Well I am hoping that you will tell all of your friends about this blog and that you will check back and post up your comments. The issues remain and nothing has sorted it to date. I have tried so many different things as suggested by people on the internet but the problem remains. It appears to be a routing problem to me or how busy their servers are. I do not believe it is anything to do with my machine as like many other games players, it has never done this before and everything that could block the game has been switched off.
The release of Vietnam add on says it all really.... Another £10 charged and yet they still have not sorted out the existing problem.
Of course, they are still looking into the problem and they may well find the solution but I doubt it. I hope they do though as I want to play the game.
I will update again soon....
Please tell everyone about this post and post the link elsewhere so that we can raise awareness and get EA/Dice/Steam and Santa Claus to do something about it.
Regards
Wayne Edmonds
Seems Steam are looking into the problem and EA have 3rd line support on the case
Another update from Steam
12 Message by Support Tech Arnold on Sat, 18th Dec 2010 4:46 pm