I'm trying to render using the Presentation setting and every time the rendering window pops up, renders to about 12% and then stops and erases everything it had done. HELP!

This is a Studio Max question, correct? I'm unfamiliar with the "Presentation" setting. That sounds like Autocad to me, not Studio Max.The settings for Mental Ray in Studio Max are Draft, Low, Medium, High and Very High. There is no Presentation setting.Are you using Mental Ray or Vray?Have you tried lowering your setting down to High or Medium to see if it will render at all?

Im currently using the 3d max, base the problem you had there's many possible why it render it stops or erase.
maybe:
 
1. the setup you had using vray or mental ray
2. your pc specs (lower ram)
3.maximum polygon counts
4.too much putting lights
5. higher displacement
6.etc.
 
by the way, what setup did you use scanline,mental ray,vray or maxwell?