What causes "CD not authorized" prompt?

[Outrider]

its caused by someone changing their CD key to yours and then getting banned.

If two people have the same CD key, then the second person out of the two to join any online server won't be able to. They can both access an online server, but just not at the same time. And one of the two doesn't necessarily have to be banned in order for this to happen. It's a measure to prevent people from obtaining one copy of the game (with one CD key) and distributing it among their friends for online play. So in Panama's case, it could very much be possible that his current CD key was acquired by someone else, perhaps via one of the those random key generator things, since his restarting didn't fix the problem.

[11_Panama_]

its caused by someone changing their CD key to yours and then getting banned.

If two people have the same CD key, then the second person out of the two to join any online server won't be able to. They can both access an online server, but just not at the same time. And one of the two doesn't necessarily have to be banned in order for this to happen. It's a measure to prevent people from obtaining one copy of the game (with one CD key) and distributing it among their friends for online play. So in Panama's case, it could very much be possible that his current CD key was acquired by someone else, perhaps via one of the those random key generator things, since his restarting didn't fix the problem.

But on every server I went to? For me to not be able to enter a server, my CD key would have to be in used in that particular server. There is no reason I should get that message in an empty server...unless the key hash is banned.

[Outrider]

Whoops, I worded it wrong. I meant to say any server in general meaning that only one user with a particular CD key can be playing online at any given time. I'll try to confirm this tomorrow.

[Bryant]

2 possibilities I can think of:
1) You changed your CD-Key recently and it is actually an invalid key
2) Someone else was online using the same key as you (see outrider's post) - gamespy keeps a live log of every key that is currently in use and prevents multiple uses of the same key regardless of server.

If a restarting the program had been a solution then there would be a third possibility:
3) If you get banned from a sever, then a bug can occur causing the program to keep thinking that you are banned even when trying other servers.

[FaiL.?]

Call up Lucasarts support and that might help.

[Brazosgrad]

It is an improper disk read. Nothing more than that. I have gotten cd polisher and fixed mine on occasion , besides the computer restart. It isn't anything or anyone malicious.

[Col. Hstar]

I would switch to steam. You get a fresh cd code and no more disks. You can get it for $5 when it's on sale.

[Bryant]

If you're running a certain version of the 1.1 patch (which is the same version my client-side patched file uses) then you can play the game without a CD. Just create a shortcut directly to battlefrontII.exe and don't use the launcher.

[Matt-Chicago]

Keep in mind gamespy uses your cd-key and IP address.
How do I know this? Because I often spectate on multiple servers at once, with the same cd-key.
I have the game installed on multiple computers, all with my original cd-key.
I can play on unlimited servers at the same time with that same cd-key, but only if coming from the same IP address, such as my home.
If I have even one server up at home and try to spectate at work, I get the cd-key not authorized message no er what server I try to join.

So, if someone does have your cd-key - that would explain why you can't join any server if they are currently playing - because you don't share their IP address.

[11_Panama_]

Now that makes sense. Thanks MT. Still leaves me wondering who else would have my keyhash?