Black Launcher Screen

[Gerak]

Did you turn Virus checking off during installation? I know it shouldn't make a difference BUT.

[notoriousgtt]

Did you turn Virus checking off during installation? I know it shouldn't make a difference BUT.

Yup, disabled AVG while installing

Don't make me go back to star trek online for these 4 days.... lol

[Will01]

We can't really do much troubleshooting at the servers are actually down at the mo.

However, when they come online, try accessing the link given previously in IE (not any other browser) and let us know what happens.

[Zastai]

One thing to try is to install Wireshark or a similar tool and sniffing the network activity of the launcher.
It should make 2 HTTP connections - one to a server to check the version (to a URL including "win32" and the full launcher version string). That request will normally get error 204 ("no data") but include an HTTP header with the latest version.
The second is the link I posted earlier; it should get a response for that.

If you don't see any response coming in, ISP/network/firewall are prime suspects. If it gets an HTTP error, that error may give insight as to the cause (especially if a direct IE connection doesn't have an issue). If it gets no error, but the launcher still shows nothing, it's probably the launcher itself messing up (in which case, try renaming "C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn" so that the launcher doesn't start out using pre-existing settings).

[notoriousgtt]

We can't really do much troubleshooting at the servers are actually down at the mo.

However, when they come online, try accessing the link given previously in IE (not any other browser) and let us know what happens.

Cool, will give that a go tomorrow when everything is back up and report back. Thanks.

[notoriousgtt]

One thing to try is to install Wireshark or a similar tool and sniffing the network activity of the launcher.
It should make 2 HTTP connections - one to a server to check the version (to a URL including "win32" and the full launcher version string). That request will normally get error 204 ("no data") but include an HTTP header with the latest version.
The second is the link I posted earlier; it should get a response for that.

If you don't see any response coming in, ISP/network/firewall are prime suspects. If it gets an HTTP error, that error may give insight as to the cause (especially if a direct IE connection doesn't have an issue). If it gets no error, but the launcher still shows nothing, it's probably the launcher itself messing up (in which case, try renaming "C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn" so that the launcher doesn't start out using pre-existing settings).

Just out of interest, before I try anything what should it be renamed to?

[Will01]

You can rename it to anything, just add "- copy" to the end or something, the reason for this is that if you do end up messing something up, you can always revert back again.

[Raist]

Yup, disabled AVG while installing

Don't make me go back to star trek online for these 4 days.... lol

hmm.. AVG... IDK if disabling it will truly take it off the suspect list. I once had a client that couldn't get in to the local Tech College's online school for almost a week while they kept trying different things. In spite of adding exceptions for the site and all, it just wouldn't let her sign in. On a whim, I uninstalled AVG and she got right in. So, something in there was getting in the way. Seen this happen with Avast from time to time after an update as well. Several times over the years it has knackered up Windows Update, requiring you to not only disable shields--but stop the Avast Service as well to get the updates to download/install properly. Recently, it was noted there was an issue with their firewall injecting micro-stuttering in not only XIV, but streaming apps as well.

Just saying, Your security software might still be a factor even if it's disabled. If you still have access to your license key and installer (unless you are on free version, not an issue)--might want to try an uninstall just to test. If a full uninstall is not an option, at least try stopping their services from running--may need to go into msconfig to set up a stripped down startup, as some services are hidden and cannot be stopped in the services.msc snap-in.

[notoriousgtt]

We can't really do much troubleshooting at the servers are actually down at the mo.

However, when they come online, try accessing the link given previously in IE (not any other browser) and let us know what happens.

Opening the link in ie results in the same black screen as the launcher

[notoriousgtt]

You can rename it to anything, just add "- copy" to the end or something, the reason for this is that if you do end up messing something up, you can always revert back again.

Renaming has made no difference