Hello, I am unable to advance in the eye of magnus quest at all. I have received the staff and returned to winter hold. The three mages, tolfdir and the two other are standing on the bridge. I've talked to tolfdir, told him to let's get in there. When I go to the force field and use the staff on it, the field does not break down. Ive used the entire charge of the staff on the field and nothing. I am INCREDIBLY disappointed at the lack of polish and number of bugs in this game. I don't think I'll be trusting Bethesda again. This needs to get sorted out. Restarting earlier saves does not fix it.

This bug is addressed on the wiki page I believe; I think you have to let Tolfdir initiate the conversation

Tolfdir does not initiate the conversation, we're having a staring match unless I start it

Hopefully someone else has encountered the bug and knows of a workaround

Yeah, this part was bugged as hell for me. I had to reload 10 times or so. You need to follow the script very carefully, because there is a huge potential to be bit by a bug! Get inside the tower, go to Ancano. You can try to speak to him, or he will begin the conversation ... I don't know anymore. Anyway, it is important that Tolfdir says some words AND throws the fireball on Ancano. Take care to position your character right. Now Ancano will reply and take Tolfdir (and your companion) out. Now, you need to wait!!! Position yourself right before the eye and wait until it opens (split into parts). Do not(!) use the staff on it until it opens up!
If you've done it right, Ancano will be pissed. Take him out, revive Tolfdir and your companion but don't save until you've verified that Ancano is dead. At this point everything should be alright.

Thanks for the help pl, but I can't even get into the college. The three mages just stand on the bridge and I can't blow away the force field to even get inside the courtyard!

Try to speak to the others too or to no one at all. If possible, use an older save where you haven't entered the building yet. This helped me with that part of the quest. You can also try to shoot at different spots on the shield with a varying length.

I am having this same bug, can't even get into the building. I have tried reloading multiple times, doesn't seem to be working.

Once you get in there, you're suppose to let Tolfdir deal with Ancano 1st. This will trigger an explosion. You will black out for a second and then speak to the girl (forgot her name) who is lying injured on the floor. You will be told to find the Arch Mage who was blown outside into the courtyard. After Tolfdir speaks again, then you may use the staff on the eye.
I'm not going to say what you have to do here because I don't want to ruin the WHOLE thing for ya. But lets just say there is more to it then using the staff on the eye itself.
Good luck.

Honeymint, don't get discouraged. I was ready to give up, and reloaded a save to try again. At first I was getting so mad I stopped, shut it down, and walked away for a few hours. I randomly turned the ps3 bak on and reloaded a save to try again and it randomly worked. I think it's just bugged---just keep trying, it'll work--and those robes are worth it . Pair them with morokei's mask and a ring of +60% magicka regen... =infinite magicka for my destruction/resto battlemage build!!