I just started playing BF4 a couple of months ago, after being an avid BF1 player for quite a while. I went on vacation last week, which means I was away from the game for that time, and when I came back earlier this week I keep getting kicked from servers because I've been banned by Punkbuster. 

I've followed the directions on your site, and filed a ban appeal with Even Balance, but what now? Nothing has happened for a couple of days, is there anything else I can do? 

PunkBuster Server: VIOLATION (GAMEHACK) #86001: Tannheuser (slot #4) Violation (GAMEHACK) #86001 [3dcf817d3b001aa22edb1fffcca9585d(-) 85.224.252.89:3659]

https://bf4db.com/player/ban/244090177

I'd like to point out that I haven't cheated in any way, but as I understand it, this ban could be caused by PB reacting to other software on my computer? Is that right? 

Unfortunately we can not help you unless Evenbalance admits that the violation is a false positive. Create a support ticket on their site: https://www.evenbalance.com/support.php

A response can take up to two weeks, but generally they are faster.

If you created a ticket, you can PM the link to me.

Thanks. Like I stated in my first post, do we have any ideas about what could have caused this reaction by Punkbuster? Like any other software it is known to react to? Or should I be looking at my stats/battlereports to find the reason?

We don’t know exactly what causes the violation but we have seen other bans on this violation code and other that don’t make sense. We suspect there is a false positive but until Punkbuster confirms a false positive is possible we are treating all bans by this violation as valid. If a false positive is found we will evaluate the bans again

Ok, makes sense. What is a false positive?

A ban triggered erroneously by a non-cheat piece of software. Please let us know if there has been any new software you’ve added recently or updated. We are looking into these Violation codes. But like it was mentioned above, we are treating them as valid until we can prove otherwise. 

A false positive is when punkbuster flags a process as a cheat but the process belongs to a non cheat program. I believe msi afterburner had a resource monitor overlay (cpu, gpu temp/ usage) that was being flagged by punkbuster. 

Right. I use MSI Afterburner and RIva Tuner, in order to OC and monitor, and I use Razer Cortex to "boost" my system when I play, but I have been using those since I started playing. Other than that, no new software in the period since I started playing that I could say for sure. 

I haven't played the game for that long though, maybe around 2 months, so perhaps Punkbuster has been on to my dirty tricks this whole time. 

"Note #2: We do not find this violation to be triggered in error, and it will not be removed. 

The supplied GUID has been associated with hacking or interfering with the normal operation of our PunkBuster software and has therefore been compromised resulting in a global ban from PunkBuster enabled game servers. We have no way of knowing who was actually playing with this GUID at the time the violation was triggered. We also have no way to know if the violation was triggered on your specific computer. Our system does not collect personal information and furthermore we have no way to attach a cheat/hack violation to a specific person. This ban will not be lifted as then the person who did trigger the violation would again be able to join PunkBuster Servers using this GUID. 

To be clear: we are not saying that you cheated as we have no way to know who triggered the violation. If it is certain that no one playing on your computer ever had a cheat/hack violation triggered by PunkBuster, then your GUID (cdkey and/or game account password) has been stolen by or leaked to someone who has used it on a different computer to trigger the violation. We do not have the means to help you find out who is responsible for compromising your GUID."

This is what I got from EB. I fully realize the ban won't be lifted, but I need to follow up on this. Is there a log I can access on the matches I've played (to see if my account has been active while I was away on vacation or such)? Anything else I can do? Any advice at all? Will I never be able to play the game again? 

http://bf4cheatreport.com/?pid=244090177&uid=&cnt=200&start=&startdate=180521

here are your last 200 reports

http://bf4cheatreport.com/?pid=244090177&uid=&cnt=200&start=&startdate=180416

here are the next 200 reports

it looks like you last played in 2013 before you began playing on April 7 2018. Does that sound right?

Also I would like to note that we are working to confirm that there is a false positive triggering these bans. If we can confirm that a false positive is triggered then we will be re-evaluating the bans for the appropriate violations and your ban may be lifted. Until then we do have to treat them as valid bans. If you have discord, there is a link to the bf4db discord where discussion about this would be easier. With your info and the info of other players affected by the ban we may be able to quickly identify the trigger and get these bans overturned

Yea, I probably tried it out around release, and then didn't touch it until I got bored with BF1 earlier this year. 

Where is that Discord link you mentioned? I'm away with work for 7 days from today, but I'll get back to you as soon as I can.