SL crashes on my Laptop

Hi. I just got a new laptop that meets the specs for Second Life. About a day ago I downloaded SL to it, and although it said that it was compatible and downloaded correctly, for some reason it crashes every time I successfully log in. I mean it will say that it logged in and right before I am able to see the grid environs it crashes.

I've heard from others that Vista might be the culprit. Anyways I just don't know what to do.

Vista and SL play nicely together. However some of the drivers for things like graphics don't when used under the Vista operating system. Chances are you need to update your video driver that came with the new computer. There probably is a driver that will work for SL. Go the the manufacturers website and download the latest driver for the graphics your laptop came with. If your computer is using an intergrated graphics chip then chances are you will have some problems making it work well. Investigate whether you can get a stand alone card with dedicated onboard RAM. Of the two major players in the GPU area nVidia is a little ahead of ATI in the open GL rendering engine department so if you have a choice that may be the best route to go. But onboard graphics can be made to work.....just not as well as with stand alone cards.

Also check your antivirus for issues (Norton and McAfee both sometimes interfer with SL). Your firewall may be blocking you from SL.........check that too. If you are on a home network your router may need to configured to allow access.

Not knowing anything about your system makes it hard to help much. Post some specifications and I'm sure someone will be able to give your some insight into what may be causing your problems. But, I'm positive it is not Vista as the cause.