Just a quick update. For the last month or so (since I first signed up), I had my cable connection settings set to automatic, and haven't had any troubles till last night. About an hour ago, I went in, and set up a second connection setting, with all the numbers plugged in manually. Now, at least superficially, it thinks it's getting online. Instead of jamming at the "Initializing Ethernet Connection" phase, it jams up at the "Checking Playonline Viewer Version". It'll sit on this screen apparently "Checking" for ages, and do nothing. Considering I can get online with my pc, and had always been able to get online with FFXI untill now, I don't know who to blame. Since it's too late to call customer service, I'm probably going to be off the game for at least another night. I did notice on the Playonline site that they were fixing the 1040 error that was plaguing a small percentage of PS2 users. I hope my current dilemma isn't a result of said "fix". Anyhow, I'll keep posting updates here. Hopefully noone else has this problem, but it might be useful anyway.