For the past 10 days, my son has been unable to get NHL 21 to start. We have talked to tech support several times. We've cleared the cache, restarted the Xbox, uninstalled and reinstalled the game, adjusted the port settings, deleted local saved data, removed and re-added the profile. The last steps at least got the "syncing" bar to show up; then it freezes and crashes and there's an odd hum on the audio. Yet he can get the game to start if he switches to a different gamertag/profile on the same console. He doesn't want to lose his game progress under his primary gamertag, and he's not having any issues with other games under that gamertag. Has anyone else had this problem? EA Sports is not calling me back or opening a chat. Guess they're sick of me asking them to find a fix! Any ideas about what to do? Could it be a server problem associated with the account that prevents syncing? Thanks for any suggestions!

Are you gamesharing with your son? Perhaps he is trying to also share with a friend and it has caused his account to have lost an activation?Xbox has a reputation system if I remember correctly, is it possible he was reported for something and now the account is flagged? If it gets bad enough, accounts can sometimes be refused access to certain games.How many open cases do you have with ea support? Could be something as simple a temp lock until everything is resolved. Twitter support is usually very good when the option for chat isn't available -- if enough time has passed with no response, you should be able to politely request an update.Throwing a complete miracle hail mary here since this was a strange fix to an old and weird bug back in the day but have your son change his profile picture to a default one and unplug any usb cables from the console for a bit, see if that helps

I hope they can find a solution. As you expected, the case has been moved up to the investigations department. I hope I hear something back from them soon. I will post again with the outcome. Fingers crossed!

Thanks! No, my son is the only gamer in the house. I try to be IT support. LOL In my discussions with EA, they said nothing appeared to be wrong with the account or profile. They closed the original case and the second call. I can't seem to get them to resume the recent one where they had me (randomly) change the ports. Not sure how I'm supposed to report back to them that I did. We'll try your suggestions about the profile pic and cables. At this point, all we can do is try! Thanks again!

Hi there, @ThunderSnipez15. Try deleting your son's gamertag off the console. Then, download it again. It's possible there's some corruption causing this to happen and adding the gamertag again may resolve it. Let me know what happens. Thanks!

Thanks - we tried deleting and re-adding his gamertag; no change. We also took the step of having him log on to a friend's console and try to launch there. Didn't work. At this point, I think it must be on EA's end, not ours. I will contact help again to update them. Hope they have a way of finding the problem and fixing it.

Game crashes during launch but only for one gamertag/account

14 Replies

TTZ_Dipsy
Hero+
5 years ago
Are you gamesharing with your son? Perhaps he is trying to also share with a friend and it has caused his account to have lost an activation?
Xbox has a reputation system if I remember correctly, is it possible he was reported for something and now the account is flagged? If it gets bad enough, accounts can sometimes be refused access to certain games.
How many open cases do you have with ea support? Could be something as simple a temp lock until everything is resolved. Twitter support is usually very good when the option for chat isn't available -- if enough time has passed with no response, you should be able to politely request an update.
Throwing a complete miracle hail mary here since this was a strange fix to an old and weird bug back in the day but have your son change his profile picture to a default one and unplug any usb cables from the console for a bit, see if that helps
ThunderSnipez15
5 years ago
Thanks! No, my son is the only gamer in the house. I try to be IT support. LOL In my discussions with EA, they said nothing appeared to be wrong with the account or profile. They closed the original case and the second call. I can't seem to get them to resume the recent one where they had me (randomly) change the ports. Not sure how I'm supposed to report back to them that I did. We'll try your suggestions about the profile pic and cables. At this point, all we can do is try! Thanks again!
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
5 years ago
Hi there, @ThunderSnipez15.

Try deleting your son's gamertag off the console. Then, download it again. It's possible there's some corruption causing this to happen and adding the gamertag again may resolve it. Let me know what happens. Thanks!
ThunderSnipez15
5 years ago
Thanks - we tried deleting and re-adding his gamertag; no change. We also took the step of having him log on to a friend's console and try to launch there. Didn't work. At this point, I think it must be on EA's end, not ours. I will contact help again to update them. Hope they have a way of finding the problem and fixing it.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
5 years ago
@ThunderSnipez15

Did your son happen to have a custom gamerpic as @TTZ_Dipsy had mentioned? Also, you can try deleting the personal saved data. To do that, highlight the NHL 21 tile and hit the Menu button. This is to the right of the Guide button and has 3 horizontal lines on it. Next, go to Manage game & add ons and choose Saved data. Then, delete the file with your son's gamertag on it. Don't delete from everywhere though. Just the local file. Next, have him try playing again. This won't delete any HUT content, but his personal settings will most likely be deleted and there is the chance any offline progress (Be A Pro, Franchise Mode, etc, ) will be lost.
ThunderSnipez15
5 years ago
No, he doesn't have a custom image. He'll try changing it to the "default" Xbox logo. We did clear local saved data. Didn't work. As I said, we tried logging on from someone else's machine and he still couldn't get the game going. It syncs to about 80 percent, then crashes and sends him back to the main screen.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
5 years ago
@ThunderSnipez15

This is definitely an odd issue and is most likely a problem at the account level. I don't think it's something we're going to get resolved over Answers HQ. I realize you've already spoken with our support team, but they may need to escalate your case to our specialists for investigation. I can't think of anything else to try. You can try messaging @EAHelp through Twitter or open a case with a live support advisor here. Support can also be reached through Facebook at facebook.com/eahelphub.
ThunderSnipez15
5 years ago
Thank you. Yes, I am hoping that when I talk to support again (probably in a few hours), they can move our case to a different level. I appreciate the responses; it's reassuring that you all see that this is a real problem that we can't troubleshoot ourselves.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
5 years ago
@ThunderSnipez15

You're very welcome. Can you let me know what happens? I'm really curious about this one and hopefully, there's something to be learned for future reference.
ThunderSnipez15
5 years ago
I hope they can find a solution. As you expected, the case has been moved up to the investigations department. I hope I hear something back from them soon. I will post again with the outcome. Fingers crossed!