Most of the problems (and particularly with Iburst and capped accounts ) are caused by the auto update function within punkbuster not completing within a defined timeframe.
What I suggest you do is the following. This will tell punkbuster NOT to try auto update , so if you have a problem follow teh manual update procedure.
With Iburst users , I suggest that you use a download manager to get the updates off
www.punkbuster.com . This is because the proxy server that wbs uses cuts off some files before they are fully completed.
When in a game do the following commands ( I have included explanations with them )
PB_Security 0
When set to 0, PunkBuster will accept all "update" files without verifying that they are authentic; the default is 1 which should not normally be changed except for LAN environments where there is no Internet Access and/or you fully trust the Servers you are connecting to
PB_Lan 1
Defaults to 0; when set to 1, PB will behave as though it has no Internet access. This will also stop punkbuster trying to go onto the web to get updates.
PB_WriteCfg
Writes the current values of the PunkBuster settings to the local hard drive (creating or overwriting files called pbcl.cfg and pbcllog.cfg) in such a way that they will be loaded automatically the next time PunkBuster starts; if you make changes to your PunkBuster settings and you want the changes to be permanent, then enter this command after making the changes
Do the above commands in sequence and then follow a manual update policy.
Some other commands of interest :
PB_Ver
Displays the currently running version of the PunkBuster Client software
PB_WebUpdate
This command adds the PBWEB functionality directly into the PB Client - PBWEB should no longer be required to manually update PB Clients. PunkBuster will automatically issue this command when necessary to auto-update during gameplay before going into distress mode
PB_LogToFile [0=no, 1=yes]
When set to 1, PunkBuster will log activity to the pbcl.log file; the default is 0 which meansonly errors are logged