this is from an excellent post on MOUL forum, shared here for explorers having difficulty getting on. The servers are up and working, the lag is better, Cyan restared to fix the Pellet Counter not registering, it does now. Some people lost accounts in the reset yesterday that set up a new installer. You may have to re sign up.  Here is the info and some things that help. Try any of these at your own risk, we share to help, but you are on your own responsibility for this.

Drakmyth

Feb 11, 2010 : Common Problems and How To Solve Them

Skimming through the forums I see many people asking the same questions and getting the same answers. So here is a compendium of known problems and their solutions. A word of warning: these solutions have been proven to work for some people. This doesn't necessarily guarantee they will work for you. However, if you try these solutions and it doesn't fix your problem, we will try to help you find a solution that does.

I'm stuck at "Initializing Patcher..."
This indicates that there is more than one patcher currently running. To solve this problem:

1.) Open the Task Manager (ctrl + alt + del)
2.) Click the "Processes" tab
3.) Select UruLauncher.exe
4.) Click the "End Process" button
5.) Click the "Yes" button on the dialog that appears

Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 for every UruLauncher.exe in the process list. Once they are all closed. You can restart the patcher.

I'm stuck at "Checking for patcher update..."
This is caused by the patcher having difficulty connecting to Cyan's data server. To solve this problem you have three options:

1.) You can wait and hope it resolves itself.
2.) Run MOULInstaller.exe again.
3.) Close the patcher (making sure it is gone from the Task Manager process list) and re-open it.

Options 2 seems to have a higher success rate than Option 1, but is not guaranteed to work. Option 3 should be repeated over and over again until the patcher says "Connecting to server". This usually happens 2 or 3 seconds after the patcher has started up. Note that it is currently unknown how many times you may have to restart the patcher.

Note that the MOULInstaller.exe download link has been removed from the "Play" tab. This is not the same as the full client download from FilePlanet.

I'm stuck at "Checking for updates..."
This means Cyan's data server crashed. Usually this also results in a dialog box saying "Unable to connect to server." There is no solution for this except to wait for Cyan to fix it.

I'm getting "Authentication Failed. Please try again. Account not found."
This means the Auth server does not recognize your Account Name. Your account name is the email address you used to register your account. If you have correctly input that email address and are still receiving this error, try re-registering.

I'm getting "Authentication Failed. Please try again. Login Denied." OR

I'm getting "Authentication Failed. Please try again. Disconnected from Myst Online." OR

I'm getting "Authentication Failed. Please try again. Unable to connect to Myst Online."
These errors simply indicate that either the Authentication Server is down or your password is incorrect. If the Auth Server is down, there is no solution except to wait for Cyan to bring it back up.

I'm getting "Failed to delete old patcher executable"
This is caused by the UAC in Vista/Win7 not allowing the patcher to delete the old patcher executable which it just tried to replace with an updated one. To solve this problem close any open patchers, right-click the patcher shortcut (or executable) and select "Run as Administrator".

I'm getting "Error creating file. Hard drive may be full."
This is caused by the UAC in Vista/Win7 not allowing the patcher to create new files. To solve this problem close any open patchers, right-click the patcher shortcut (or executable) and select "Run as Administrator".

I haven't received my account creation/activation email.
Some e-mail services are marking this email as spam, and don't always send it to your spam box (electing to just delete it instead). Using a different email address may solve the problem. Below is a list of email providers and the general successes of each:

Apple MobileMe: No problems.
AT&T: No problems.
Cogeco: No problems.
Comcast: Deletes it. Use a different address.
Gmail: May filter it into the spam box, but does receive it..
Hotmail: Mixed results, may or may not receive it.
Roadrunner: Mixed results, may or may not receive it.
Yahoo: May filter it into the spam box, but does receive it.

Alternatively, you can go to the following URL:
https://account.mystonline.com/SetupPassword.aspx?acct=*insert email you used to register here*

The game freezes after the first loading screen before creating my character.
This error is usually accompanied by a stack dump, though it may be hidden behind the game window. To close the game, either Alt+Tab off the game, and back onto it (bringing the stack dump to the foreground) or press Alt+F4. You can also try to access the Task Manager, though due to the game changing the screen resolution this may be difficult. It is currently unknown what causes this, and there is currently no solution. This problem does prevent you from playing the game. The best advice I can give is to keep trying and hope it doesn't happen.