"Play online viewer has stopped working" Help Please!

I recently attempted to log into FFXI and got a message I have never received before: 'Playonline viewer has stopped working" This only occurs when I try to log into my main character.

I can however, log into my mule, which is on the same account! I have tried many different things, yet I still cannot log into my main character!

I ran my mule into the same zone my main character is in, and I can log in and out freely on my mule with no problems.

I have run a 'files check' on playonline viewer and nothing is found that may be wrong.

This message only comes when I'm in the very very last part of logging in, when the screen goes black... and it gives the message at the bottom of the screen saying 'logging in' and just before it goes to log me in, I get the same message 'playonline viewer has quit working' and then it bombs out looking for a solution, but the only option is to go 'back' which then logs me out completely.

What's highly strange is that my main character actually gets logged in briefly, because my linkshell mates on vent say I'm actually logged in, yet they cannot send me tells, but doing a /seach all 'myname' shows I'm in the zone, but when I go and log in on my mule, my main character disconnects.

I've submitted this issue on other websites, and tried all of their suggestions, short of uninstalling and re-installing the game, which I don't even know if this will fix the problem?

I spoke with in-game GM's and asked if I have been banned or flagged on my main character, and they have stated I am not.

I have payed my bill for my character, and everything is up to date, hence I can still play my mule, and nearly log into my main character.

I'm hoping a guru of sorts can pinpoint this problem, as most have stated it sounds like a corrupted file of sorts, and say I should uninstall and re-install. If any FFXI experts on Square-Enix can offer advice I would surely appreciate it as I love this game and wish to continue playing very much so!

I play on PC on Windows 7, etc, and have done so smoothly for a year now.

I have however not yet tried logging in from a different computer, which I cannot do currently because I do not own another PC, and cannot trust anyone quite yet with my information to try and log in my character.

Any super wiz out there able to pinpoint this problem and fix it, I got a gift certificate from anywhere near where you shop!

Thanks, any help is appreciated!
-TaxiMan

Go into FFXI Config and set the graphics settings to default and see how things go from there.

Another option is hitting the Windows key, typing "rstrui" at the Windows Start menu, hitting enter, and going through the procedure to restore your computer to a point in time when FFXI was working for you.

Tried this, doesn't work, I still get the message, it's just my main character that does this, I can still log into my mule, so I don't believe it's anything to do with the setup features.

Try this:
go to \PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\USER inside the USER folder is a list of folders that have random names. These folders are the settings you have set for each char on your account. Make a folder in this folder called bkup then move all the char folders into the bkup folder. Then re-log into your account/char.

Because you moved your char settings file, all your marcos are going to get reset along with any chat settings. There is a way to copy your marco data to the new folder but your marcos may be corrupt.

seen this happen in the past with my account, and it was due to corruption (usually the old NTFS corruption due to unclean shutdown--happens more often than people realize, especially with faster hardware). Happened to me a lot when I first transitioned to SATA and still had some IDE drives in the mix. You can get cross-linked files, or misaligned security descriptors....all kinds of weird stuff. Fortunately, Windows still comes with some tools to fix the normal stuff.

You could simply have some corruption in your swapfile or hibernation file if you routinely suspend/hibernate. This is actually a fairly simple thing to fix--they're temp files, so you can just delete/recreate them by disabling them, then re-enabling them. I usually disable hibernation, than the swapfile (calls for a reboot), then reenable hibernation and then the swapfile--this way you know everything is dumped/recreated cleanly.

The hibernation file can be toggled off/on by running powercfg.cpl from the start -> Run/Search box. The option to enable/disable it will be nested in it's own tab. Forget if there's a direct .cpl file for getting at the swapfile. Right-click My Computer, go to Properties, Advanced Tab, and click the settings button in the Performance section. Then go to the new Advanced tab there and you'll see a button for changing the swapfile settings. Select each drive and make sure the button is set so there is no paging file set in the lower section (make note of the previous settings, so you can set them back again later), click the apply/OK buttons and let it reboot when prompted.

After rebooting, just go back and turn hibernation on and restore the settings for the swapfile again.

If it's still freaking out after that, try running a disk check. Forget exactly what it's using now in Windows 7 (not the good old chkdsk from XP anymore)---but it's always been in the tools section when you right-click on your hard drive(s) in My Computer/Explorer and go to the properties for the drive. Run the full checks, and select the options to let Windows make repairs if offered (may get prompted to run the check during reboot, if so...let it do it). This can take a while....but may finally resolve the problem for you if it's due to the dreaded NTFS corruption that STILL plagues Windows.

Afterwards, might want to give the drive a good defrag also (utility also nested in the properties pages for the drives). After a while, files can get scattered all over the place. It just tightens things up and can reduce load times.