Getting error code pol- 0250

[Kline]

Details: I was infected by a nasty virus, i had to completely restore my PC to its factory state, i reinstalled ffxi and pol. PoL updated fine, But during ffxi update, i keep etting "Error Code Pol-0250" and get disconnected from playonline and have to relogin.

Steps: Reinstalled ffxi, Log in, run update, pol then kicks me off

date/time: Problem started Yesterday (10/8/2011) around 3:00 PM (est) and is still occuring as i type this.

Frequency: Always - every time i try to update ffxi

Platform: PC

PC Manufacturer/Model Number: Alienware Aurora

OS: Windows 7

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX260

ISP: Cox Communications ("Perferred" Teir upto 12mbps Down/upto 3mbps up)

Catv Connection

[SE_Stephen]

After reading your email we believe the following suggestions are related to your issue.

If you are having experiencing or seeing any of the following at any point, we do have a few suggestions.
Connecting to/staying connected to the PlayOnline Viewer, FINAL FANTASY XI or Tetra Master, click on your character handle and crash/black screen or get stuck at downloading data screen, click on the character select button crash/black screen or get stuck at downloading data screen, randomly getting kicked out of game, or seeing the lag meter go red, seeing more chop/lag/disconnects around crowed areas, having trouble accessing only a specific zone/zones, having trouble logging in only a specific character/characters, getting any of these errors; 3113, 3100, 4001, 1160,

Suggestions we have
===================
1 a. Check to make sure you have properly configured or turned off any of the following:
Firewall software, Antivirus Software, Parental-Controls, pop-up blocker software, Routers, Proxy Servers, NAT Servers, Internet Connection Sharing services.

1 b. If you are using any kind of software/hardware Internet Sharing service/device the following ports need INCOMING access to your PC. TCP 25, 80, 110, 443 and 50000 - 65535, UDP 53, and 50000 - 65535, also check to make sure that the ports mentioned are not blocked by your ISP for INCOMING access. Proper configuration of any of the above items mentioned should be done by following the instructions in the software /hardware manual or calling the manufacturer's technical support.

2. We recommend turning off any background programs, this should be done using msconfig startup tab:
How-To: Turn off background programs using msconfig.
(Win 98/ME) - Open the start menu and select run, type msconfig and press ok. Select the startup tab and
uncheck everything except for SYSTRAY and scan registry.
(Win 2K/XP) - Open the start menu and select run, type msconfig and press ok. Select the startup tab and choose Disable All.

3. If you are receiving the error FFXI - 3113 - Protocol Timeout Error, ensure that Client for Microsoft Networks is installed in your Windows network properties. If it is installed, you may want to try uninstalling and reinstalling it.

4. If you have had a software firewall program called Zone Alarm by Zone Labs installed on your computer at any point in time - even if it is uninstalled now, you need to reinstall it, turn it on, configure it to allow PlayOnline to access the internet, and leave it active.

Please take note of the following FAQs
======================================
* Proxy servers, and satellite connections do not work correctly with FINAL FANTASY XI.

* You may need to set up a web browser for your PC if you are having trouble accessing PlayOnline.com.
For more information, please refer to the appropriate vendor's instruction manual.

* Your router may require that you use a PC to configure your network settings.
For more information about how to configure your network settings, please refer to the instruction manual that came with your router or contact the manufacturer directly.

* If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) specifies a DNS server, you need to make sure to configure your settings to allow packets to pass through UDP Port 53 as well.
For more information, please refer to the instruction manual for your router or the information provided by your ISP.

[Emeryk]

After reading your email we believe the following suggestions are related to your issue.

If you are having experiencing or seeing any of the following at any point, we do have a few suggestions.
Connecting to/staying connected to the PlayOnline Viewer, FINAL FANTASY XI or Tetra Master, click on your character handle and crash/black screen or get stuck at downloading data screen, click on the character select button crash/black screen or get stuck at downloading data screen, randomly getting kicked out of game, or seeing the lag meter go red, seeing more chop/lag/disconnects around crowed areas, having trouble accessing only a specific zone/zones, having trouble logging in only a specific character/characters, getting any of these errors; 3113, 3100, 4001, 1160,

Suggestions we have
===================
1 a. Check to make sure you have properly configured or turned off any of the following:
Firewall software, Antivirus Software, Parental-Controls, pop-up blocker software, Routers, Proxy Servers, NAT Servers, Internet Connection Sharing services.

1 b. If you are using any kind of software/hardware Internet Sharing service/device the following ports need INCOMING access to your PC. TCP 25, 80, 110, 443 and 50000 - 65535, UDP 53, and 50000 - 65535, also check to make sure that the ports mentioned are not blocked by your ISP for INCOMING access. Proper configuration of any of the above items mentioned should be done by following the instructions in the software /hardware manual or calling the manufacturer's technical support.

2. We recommend turning off any background programs, this should be done using msconfig startup tab:
How-To: Turn off background programs using msconfig.
(Win 98/ME) - Open the start menu and select run, type msconfig and press ok. Select the startup tab and
uncheck everything except for SYSTRAY and scan registry.
(Win 2K/XP) - Open the start menu and select run, type msconfig and press ok. Select the startup tab and choose Disable All.

3. If you are receiving the error FFXI - 3113 - Protocol Timeout Error, ensure that Client for Microsoft Networks is installed in your Windows network properties. If it is installed, you may want to try uninstalling and reinstalling it.

4. If you have had a software firewall program called Zone Alarm by Zone Labs installed on your computer at any point in time - even if it is uninstalled now, you need to reinstall it, turn it on, configure it to allow PlayOnline to access the internet, and leave it active.

Please take note of the following FAQs
======================================
* Proxy servers, and satellite connections do not work correctly with FINAL FANTASY XI.

* You may need to set up a web browser for your PC if you are having trouble accessing PlayOnline.com.
For more information, please refer to the appropriate vendor's instruction manual.

* Your router may require that you use a PC to configure your network settings.
For more information about how to configure your network settings, please refer to the instruction manual that came with your router or contact the manufacturer directly.

* If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) specifies a DNS server, you need to make sure to configure your settings to allow packets to pass through UDP Port 53 as well.
For more information, please refer to the instruction manual for your router or the information provided by your ISP.

I have the same problem as the OP and I followed all of these steps, still getting booted off of POL very shortly after starting the update.

Steps: Fresh installation of FFXI > Update > POL boot

date/time: 03/28/2012

Frequency: Every time I initiate the FFXI update, it cuts out at the beginning of the download section

Platform: PC

PC Manufacturer/Model Number: Custom PC

OS: Windows 7 64 bit

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti

ISP: Sudden Link

[RAIST]

this is a shot in the dark, but if you installed iTunes you might be running up against an issue with yourwinsock API. The usual symptoms of this problem are either a painfully slow connection, failure to connect to website messages, or frequently dropped connections.

There is a command you can run from a command prompt to reset it (or you can open notepad, paste only this line and save it as a .bat file, ie winsock.bat, then run it). It will call for a reboot.

netsh winsock reset

[Emeryk]

this is a shot in the dark, but if you installed iTunes you might be running up against an issue with yourwinsock API. The usual symptoms of this problem are either a painfully slow connection, failure to connect to website messages, or frequently dropped connections.

There is a command you can run from a command prompt to reset it (or you can open notepad, paste only this line and save it as a .bat file, ie winsock.bat, then run it). It will call for a reboot.

Hmm that's really interesting, could be the problem I had on my old laptop. Definitely not the problem I'm having on this PC as I don't have itunes installed. I have very few programs installed in general really, so I kind of doubt it's any problem like that.

[RAIST]

oops.. brainfart.... if you want to run the winsock reset, you will need to run it as Admin. Either drill down to the shortcut to DOS prompt in the start menu (think it was under Accessories) and right click that and type the command, or if using the .bat file, right -click that and select to run as Admin.

Other things can hose the winsock, it's just that I've seen it documented as an issue with iTunes before. Ran it on a Vista SP1 machine about a month ago and it restored a friends system. They hadn't used iTunes on that system for almost a year, but gave it a shot anyway after all malware/virus scans came up clean--and to my surprise it fixed it. If nothing else seems to be working, might be worth a shot.

Here is a rundown of basically what could be going on with the Winsock:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm

Most of the Internet connectivity problems arise out of corrupt Winsock settings. Windows sockets settings may get corrupted due to the installation of a networking software, or perhaps due to Malware infestation. You will be able connect to the Internet, but the packets won't transfer back and forth. And errors such as Page cannot be displayed may occur when using Internet Explorer. This article lists the methods (with links to third-party websites) to reset/repair the Winsock configuration to defaults.

***NOTE: If you are running a static IP/DNs setup, this may force a reset to DHCP configuration, so make note of your TCP/IP settings beforehand incase you need to reconfigure afterwards.