A number of Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War players are getting booted from online matches. In many instances, the game will throw up error code BLZBNTBGS000003F8, which corresponds to a Battle.net launcher error. What does this code mean, and what can you do to fix disconnection problems? Read on to find out.
How to fix Black Ops Cold War BLZBNTBGS000003F8 error
Error code BLZBNTBGS000003F8 in Black Ops Cold War corresponds to a network connection problem. Typically, it appears for Battle.net users running the game over Wi-Fi connections. To fix BLZBNTBGS000003F8, you’ll have to perform some home network diagnostics.
The best tips available come from the crew over on the Blizzard support forums. There, Blizzard representatives have outlined a number of steps you can use to fix BLZBNTBGS000003F8. These are pretty standard network test procedures, but with luck, one of them will rule out the problem causing the error.
- If at all possible, change from a wireless to a wired connection via ethernet
- Power cycle your network devices, including your internet modem and/or router, then your PC
- Try the Windows 10 network reset:
- Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Network Reset
- Close any PC applications that may be using network connectivity
- Open the Windows Task Manager, then sort programs by network utilization. Try to close anything that uses data while the game is running
- If you’re running the game using Wi-Fi, temporarily disable any other devices with wireless connections (such as your mobile phone)
Error BLZBNTBGS000003F8 fixes for advanced users
If the steps featured above don’t fix the problem, Blizzard has more advice to give. Unfortunately, the following suggestions involve messing with relatively advanced options. Only try these out if you’re reasonably confident in your PC skills.
- Flush your DNS
- Open a command prompt (Start > CMD)
- Type “ipconfig /release” and wait for the process to complete
- Type “ipconfig /renew” and wait until everything is finished
- Finally, type “ipconfig /flushdns” and wait for the process to finish
- Try an alternative DNS such as Google’s public DNS
- Run your connection through a VPN
- Test the game over an entirely different connection to see if the error still appears
It is not entirely clear what causes error code BLZBNTBGS000003F8 to appear. In fact, first reports of the code date back for months, well prior to the release of Black Ops: Cold War. The main problem for this game specifically is that Cold War does not run through Blizzard servers. That’s why Blizzard has been diverting player’s support inquiries over to Activision Support.
All we can say for sure about error BLZBNTBGS000003F8 is that it’s a problem with your internet connection. The best fix is to troubleshoot your in-home network to rule out any potential bugs. If none of these steps has worked, the true source of the issue could come down to your internet service provider.
