After the 6/12/17 Update, I got a message that my game needed repair. The repairs took 15 minutes, and then when my game reloaded, it accepted my login, but hung up on the loading screen before I got my character list (the screen with the full-screen art, and the spinning symbol in the lower right corner). I stopped it with Ctrl-Alt-Del to the task manager to stop it, and tried again, with the same result.
After the next Ctrl-Alt-Del stop, I tried rebooting my machine, and got a windows HD error. The chkdsk routine ran for 40 minutes, identified some files with bad links (no meaning file names, alas), and finally got me back to my desktop. I tried again to start the game again, and got past the login smoothly, and again sat on the loading screen for my character list.
I then read the hints at the top of this section about reaching the character list and waiting, So I sat there for 30 minutes, periodically hitting the enter or right-arrow key to prevent a time-out. Still no luck getting off that screen. So I Ctrl-Alt-Del to the task manager to stop it again.
Next I tried completely uninstalling the entire "The Elder Scrolls Online" game (using the Control Panel of course). After that I updated my Windows Driver, just to be sure, and rebooted the machine once more.
Now, with a completely clean, driver updated machine, I downloaded the game (Morrowind version, since I own it) from my account page. After various stages of download and install, I once it reached the familiar login screen, where my account and password was accepted, and once more the game hung up on the loading screen before the character list appeared. Since the install was relatively quick, I thought that perhaps things were still downloading. So I left a weight on a key (to prevent the screen from timing out). Two hours later, the screen was STILL loading hung up in the same place, lower right corner symbol turning, and nothing happening.
At this point, I believe the fault lies not in me, but in the ESO update. Somewhere a file got messed up, and even after a clean reinstall the game simply cannot run.
My hardware information: Dell Aurora PC with Windows 7, i7 2.9 GHz quad-core chip, 12GB RAM, nVidia GTX 770 graphics with 4GB RAM (driver 382.53), Windows is fully updated, security program is BitDefender. The PC runs perfectly fine except for ESO (online works, other games work, other apps work, etc.).
My internet information: 100m bps internet download speed with a cable modem with PC on an ethernet connection to the cable modem, IP is 96.19.243.127 in Meridian Idaho.
My account name: Berylin
My monthly subscription comes up for renewal in a few days. If I can't get into the game by then, I'll have no choice but to cancel my subscription and find a different MMORPG.