Launcher freezes mid repair

Aziara · February 2019

I wanted to put this in Bug Reports, but the category was grayed out.
When i try to run a repair on the launcher, it will start off running fairly quickly. It'll get the the 2nd or 3rd time of 'Verifying' and then the numbers just... stop. It'll sit there forever if I let it. I left it overnight once, and it was still sitting on the same number when I woke up.
If I do leave it like this, my entire computer will start freezing.. to the point where my mouse is non-functional and I have to turn off the whole thing by hitting the power button on the tower (even ctrl-alt-delete doesn't do diddlysquat). So I have like a 5-10 minute window once the launcher freezes where I can close it and not have it muck up the whole computer.
This has occurred multiple times. I have reinstalled the entire game TWICE, months apart, because the issue kept cropping up. It's happening now and I really don't want to deal with another reinstall.
Has anyone else ever had this issue? How do I fix it without going for a full reinstall?

zvavi · February 2019

Honestly? Sounds like another reinstall is a thing. Especially if you can leave it for a night

Aziara · February 2019

But why does this keep happening? The exact same problem across multiple reinstalls?

zvavi · February 2019

Are you a steam version? Cause steam don't play nice with MMOs

Aziara · February 2019

Yes, I am, but there seems to be no way to unlink the account from steam.

I just don't want to have to do a full reinstall every week, this is getting ridiculous.

zvavi · February 2019

I know some guildies that "bought" the regular version again, and then just launch the game from the game folder instead (not sure about the entire process, should try googling how exactly it works). But yes. Steam users are being hit hard, remember the undaunted event when you couldn't dungeon because too many people tried to during weekend? Zos fixed it. But no one knows if they really did, because all steam users couldn't log in for the entire weekend.

zvavi · February 2019

Also try searching in the steam forums of the game, they might have a better answer for you.

louie1ou · February 2019

I had the same problem, but I figured out a fix. Not sure if it will work for you, but you never know.
For me, it turned out that it was my anti-malware causing the problem. (I have Malwarebytes)
- First run a game consult so that it gives you a report. If you can't do that using the "Game Options" in the launcher because you can't click on anything on the frozen launcher window, go to your Elder Scrolls Online folder in your computer files and click on the "Game Consult" in the "Game" folder or go to the Elder Scrolls Online site in the support and run a game consult from there and then run a test.
- Once the test is done and the report is available, you will see something like this repeating over and over:
- 01/26/2019 21:49:30 Hostname not found in whitelist (68.106.66.89)
01/26/2019 21:49:30 Hostname not found in whitelist (68.106.66.89)
01/26/2019 21:49:30 WebGet Error: (http://68.106.66.89:80/data/008d6d719de4531e/live.patcher.elderscrollsonline.com/products/eso/874DCDCF-C40C-4956-92FE-E39B8DC4764E/depot/depot_266to268/depot_266to268.z01) (68.106.66.89:80) (3:956)
01/26/2019 21:49:30 WebGet Error: (http://68.106.66.89:80/data/008d0b71a6e49c41/live.patcher.elderscrollsonline.com/products/eso/874DCDCF-C40C-4956-92FE-E39B8DC4764E/depot/depot_266to268/depot_266to268.z01) (68.106.66.89:80) (3:956)
01/26/2019 21:49:30 Hostname not found in whitelist (68.106.66.89)

It's a lot but bear with me...

- Open your anti-malware and go to settings or wherever you go to make exceptions to websites. For Malwarebytes it is in Settings > Exclusions > Add Exclusion > Exclude an IP address
- Copy and paste the Hostname, which for me it was: "68.106.66.89" and hit "ok". This might be the most important bit because the IP Address may be what is being flagged by your anti-malware program.
- Go back into your exclusions (or whatever your program calls it) and do the same but instead of clicking on "Exclude an IP Address" click on "Exclude a URL" and copy and past only the first part: "http://68.106.66.89:80/" and click "ok". Don't copy the entire thing!

You may have to restart your computer (I didn't, but just in case...) then click on the launcher again. I had to launch it two times before the anti-malware allowed the exception. (Probably because I didn't restart my PC). The verify and patch download should happen and you can play again.

louie1ou · February 2019

Just to "update" anyone who reads this (see what I did there?). ESO did another update and the patch downloaded with no problems after doing the fix mentioned in my last post.