POL won't load...help please!

[Khalus]

Here is the problem I'm having:

• I can't get PlayOnline to even load up.
• Yes I'm running the Windows 7 ver. of POL
• I'm not getting any error code.
• I've uninstalled and reinstalled it.
• I've searched the Square-Enix Support Center and all they list are crashes with codes, nothing that helps with this issue.
• I've searched through multiple forums like Dreams in Vana'diel, Allahkazam, and Bluegartr, and this issue doesn't appear to exist for anyone else.
• I've turned off my Firewall
• I've tried running it in compatability mode for all versions of windows, but that shouldn't matter since I'm using the Win7 ver of POL
• I've tried running it in Admin mode as well
• I've also tried to get it to start using Windower and I continue to get the same issue.

Anyway, here is a screenshot and a little explanation of what happens when I attempt to load POL ~ The POL splash screen appears, then a few seconds later a 2nd window, which is blank appears with the POL version in the corner, it just sits there for about 10-15sec, then I get the standard, "this program has crashed window" "looking for solution", which I've tried running through all its suggestions to no avail.

I've never in the past 8 yrs of playing FFXI had this 2nd window pop up, and I have no idea what it is or why its doing this. If anyone has an idea as to what may be causing this or a solution, please do tell...

[Mhurron]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

That second window happens all the time, you just won't notice it if it works.

Anyway, it's possible it's your video card drivers; if it is it's because they're too new. That is assuming nothing went wrong during installation. You may want to uninstall completely and reinstall it.

If you are using the Ultimate collection, do not use the POL downloaded from Playonline, use the one on the DVD.

[Khalus]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

Tried an older series of nVidia drivers and no change. So unfortunately I guess I'm stuck with uninstalling/reinstalling everything and see if that does anything...blah

BTW this was an install from last year, I quit playing in Aug/Spet when FFXIV open beta started and left XI on my system, so I'm assuming something must have become corrupt having it just sit there, which is odd...

---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------

Uninstalled everything, ran driver sweeper to remove all my video drivers, did a clean install of the latest thereafter, and I've tried reinstalling both the POL ver on the Ultimate collection disk as well as the one from PlayOnline for Win7. Still getting the same issue but it got worse and started locking my PC up to the point I had to hard boot.

After all that I tried again using windows install help to adjust compatibility and when it crashed again, it gave me a window saying that POL was an "Incompatible Application"


I'm officially stumped now, nor can I contact SE until Mon, and I've spent hours surfing the net reading about similar issues across dozens of forums and I've tried every possible solution and still nothing. The only thing I can think of that I forgot to mention is that I upgraded my PC from an AMD to an Intel CPU last Aug, but I doubt that would effect this, as everything else has been working just fine!

[Aksannyi]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

I'm not extremely tech savvy but I'm wondering if you may have gotten some kind of virus? Granted, I don't know if a virus would cause your POL to act that way, but if it was working fine and suddenly became an issue and if you can rule out other things, perhaps that is the problem? Have you tried running any sort of scans?

The only other thing in my head is that somehow your region code doesn't match. I know that when I torrented ToAU I had to go into the registry (I think) and change it so that it would be compatible with the NA version (the torrent was EU). It seems weird that it could suddenly change but it might be something. Or perhaps some other registry-related issue, though I don't know much about that. I've heard registry stuff can be weird.

I have no other ideas. There is a tech section on BG where you might get more responses - they are a bit more active over there - but other than that, I have no idea.

[Khalus]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

I've have AVG running 24/7, with Firewall. I'm running another scan now, but besides the occasional spyware, I never have any viruses and shall be doing a defrag as well today. This is really stumping me.

[Khalus]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

Well, I decided to go with more extreme measures, though not entirely with a format of my HDD. I did do a complete upgrade/reinstall of my Win7, just to rule out that as an problem. After that was done I attempted to log into POL and it worked, but this was also before I installed any new video drivers. I though alright problem fixed and proceeded to install my nVidia drivers from July '10, the same ones I used when I last played XI.

And the problem came back as described above. So I stripped my PC of all video drivers with Driver Sweeper and tried POL again, and the problem persists. I even tried every driver release for the past 2 yrs and still no luck. I'm still using the same GTX 275.

Anyway I did load POL on my other older PC, that has an 8800GTS with the drivers from July '10 {same Win7 ver} and POL works fine over there. I'm at an extreme loss as to what the problem could be or if SE would even be able to help, I've done everything and more that I'm sure they'll suggest too.

[Kailea]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

upgrading an OS never really is a good idea, (never had any luck doing so with any version of windows) and since you are still having problems, just backup stuff, wipe it clean and install Win7 freah.

[Khalus]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

Well I didn't really upgrade it, all I did was reinstall the same version of Win7 Ultimate. The only options were a clean install or upgrade, and I don't really want to do the format option just yet.

That would take days of sorting through the 800gb of data I have atm and decide what 300gb I'd like to keep of that, which is all the backup HDD space I have atm.

I mean really from all that I've done is there nothing that comes to mind for anyone that would be causing this problem? Something small I could tweak or is in conflict with POL working? Every other program and game works fine, so I'm hard pressed to reformat and reinstall everything, which is extremely time consuming...just for one game, even though I really want to play it...heh

---------- Post added at 03:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:37 PM ----------

Event Viewer details when POL crashes. It clearly shows that POL.exe is the culprit, and neither the version on the disk or the Vista/Win7 version works. Would anyone be willing to share their POL.exe with me and see if that does anything?

Faulting application name: pol.exe, version: 1.18.13.0, time stamp: 0x4b552e15
Faulting module name: pol.exe, version: 1.18.13.0, time stamp: 0x4b552e15
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00013846
Faulting process id: 0x11a0
Faulting application start time: 0x01cbd147abbd7523
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe
Report Id: f297784e-3d3a-11e0-8750-001fbc024474

[Khalus]

Re: POL won't load...help please!

Well I'm at an extreme loss now at to what the problem is. I just did the final straw, and reformatted my entire PC, reinstalled everything and just attempted to get PlayOnline to load and yet again the problem persists.

The last thing I could try is move my 8800GTS over and see if its my 275GTX going bonkers...le sigh. It appears as though it could be a video issue since its that one window that won't open, but I don't get it cause every other game and MMO works just fine.