Second Life Forums Archive - Unable to start SL client

Lotte Twilight

Registered User

Join date: 5 Feb 2004

Posts: 5

03-17-2009 08:46

I have an ATI Radeon HD 3850 graphics card with the latest drivers installed. I play a lot of online MMOs and 3D games (as well as using Blender and 3DS Max) so I am sure the drivers work fine. I was having unresponsive video card crashes recently (the last times I played SL included) due to out of date AGP drivers which I resolved with an update.

All other 3D apps are running well now without crashes. But when I try to open the current SL viewer I get the error "second life is unable to run because your video card drivers did not install properly, are out of date, or are for unsupported hardware."

Ideas?

-----------
I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers just to be nice but it didn't change anything. I also uninstalled and reinstalled SL (to try to scrub out the crash logs from a few weeks back when I was having the video driver stopped responding errors, which were resolved by the motherboard/AGP driver update). Wasn't sure if it was using that old data to diagnose some issue with my system. Still won't start the client to even get to the login screen and the only suggestion is updating the video driver to a more recent version (that isn't released yet according to the ATI site).

Chosen Few

Alpha Channel Slave

Join date: 16 Jan 2004

Posts: 7,496

03-17-2009 22:02

When you updated your driver, did you make sure to clean out all traces of the old one first? Understand, Windows is incapable of doing that on its own. If you didn't use a dedicated app like DriverCleaner to make sure your system was properly prepped for the new driver installation, that's the most likely cause for your problem.

The fact that other programs appear to be working doesn't necessarily mean anything, by the way. No other program has to do all the things SL does, and most don't do the kind of checking of the driver status at startup like SL does. Without that check, it's entirely possible that a program can appear to be working just fine, simply because you haven't yet asked it to do any specific actions that require the particular driver functions that's happen not to be working. As soon as you do, it will all of a sudden crash, seemingly out of the blue. But if you never do, then everything could seem fine, even though it's not.

I'd highly recommend you purchase copy of DriverCleaner, and follow the instructions to clean your system of all potentially bad driver files. Then do a totally clean install of your new driver. With any luck, that should do the trick.

_____________________

.

Land now available for rent in Indigo. Low rates. Quiet, low-lag mainland sim with good neighbors. IM me in-world if you're interested.

Lotte Twilight

Registered User

Join date: 5 Feb 2004

Posts: 5

03-18-2009 16:36

I use driver sweeper but didn't use it when I was uninstall/reinstalling the same version of the driver. Per your advice I used it now to uninstall then reinstall the same driver (3rd time now) over a clean slate with no ATI driver files installed and now the SL client has stopped telling me to update my driver but it is not opening the client either. It pops up the box saying it's detecting hardware, then says "Second Life appears to have frozen or crashed on the previous run. Would you like to send a crash report?" and then nothing.

This is the same version of the video driver that worked just fine when I was building in SL a couple weeks ago. Not sure what changed.

Lotte Twilight

Registered User

Join date: 5 Feb 2004

Posts: 5

03-19-2009 05:47

This is the third day I haven't been able to start the SL client. Where do people go for tech support? Other apps are still working well, the issue is really just the SL client so I'm looking for answers here but not finding much info.

How do you view the crash log info from the client? I tried but got access denied messages on the files.

Where is the right place to post or contact LL for more assistance?
-----------
update, I tried a support ticket and got only a copy/paste reply telling me to clear my cache (!) or uninstall/reinstall the SL client (which I told them I had done in my ticket). The reply also said that my issue was resolved. If I were a free account holder this might be ok but paying $85/month for premium + tier makes the copy/paste without even understanding my issue disappointing.

So I tried to resolve this all morning by going to great pains to completely remove all traces of ATI software from my system, rebooting to safe mode and running ccleaner, etc. and then I reinstalled the new video card driver that came out on the 18 (weird, eh? I can't start the SL client on the 17th because it's telling me I don't have the current drivers *at that time* and then a new driver comes out on the 18th). SL is still the only 3D app that won't start. It's once again telling me to reinstall my drivers.

I've spent hours on this but can't keep reinstalling video drivers with no change in results.

Unable to start SL client
Lotte Twilight Registered User Join date: 5 Feb 2004 Posts: 5	03-17-2009 08:46 I have an ATI Radeon HD 3850 graphics card with the latest drivers installed. I play a lot of online MMOs and 3D games (as well as using Blender and 3DS Max) so I am sure the drivers work fine. I was having unresponsive video card crashes recently (the last times I played SL included) due to out of date AGP drivers which I resolved with an update. All other 3D apps are running well now without crashes. But when I try to open the current SL viewer I get the error "second life is unable to run because your video card drivers did not install properly, are out of date, or are for unsupported hardware." Ideas? ----------- I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers just to be nice but it didn't change anything. I also uninstalled and reinstalled SL (to try to scrub out the crash logs from a few weeks back when I was having the video driver stopped responding errors, which were resolved by the motherboard/AGP driver update). Wasn't sure if it was using that old data to diagnose some issue with my system. Still won't start the client to even get to the login screen and the only suggestion is updating the video driver to a more recent version (that isn't released yet according to the ATI site).
Chosen Few Alpha Channel Slave Join date: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 7,496	03-17-2009 22:02 When you updated your driver, did you make sure to clean out all traces of the old one first? Understand, Windows is incapable of doing that on its own. If you didn't use a dedicated app like DriverCleaner to make sure your system was properly prepped for the new driver installation, that's the most likely cause for your problem. The fact that other programs appear to be working doesn't necessarily mean anything, by the way. No other program has to do all the things SL does, and most don't do the kind of checking of the driver status at startup like SL does. Without that check, it's entirely possible that a program can appear to be working just fine, simply because you haven't yet asked it to do any specific actions that require the particular driver functions that's happen not to be working. As soon as you do, it will all of a sudden crash, seemingly out of the blue. But if you never do, then everything could seem fine, even though it's not. I'd highly recommend you purchase copy of DriverCleaner, and follow the instructions to clean your system of all potentially bad driver files. Then do a totally clean install of your new driver. With any luck, that should do the trick. _____________________ . Land now available for rent in Indigo. Low rates. Quiet, low-lag mainland sim with good neighbors. IM me in-world if you're interested.
Lotte Twilight Registered User Join date: 5 Feb 2004 Posts: 5	03-18-2009 16:36 I use driver sweeper but didn't use it when I was uninstall/reinstalling the same version of the driver. Per your advice I used it now to uninstall then reinstall the same driver (3rd time now) over a clean slate with no ATI driver files installed and now the SL client has stopped telling me to update my driver but it is not opening the client either. It pops up the box saying it's detecting hardware, then says "Second Life appears to have frozen or crashed on the previous run. Would you like to send a crash report?" and then nothing. This is the same version of the video driver that worked just fine when I was building in SL a couple weeks ago. Not sure what changed.
Lotte Twilight Registered User Join date: 5 Feb 2004 Posts: 5	03-19-2009 05:47 This is the third day I haven't been able to start the SL client. Where do people go for tech support? Other apps are still working well, the issue is really just the SL client so I'm looking for answers here but not finding much info. How do you view the crash log info from the client? I tried but got access denied messages on the files. Where is the right place to post or contact LL for more assistance? ----------- update, I tried a support ticket and got only a copy/paste reply telling me to clear my cache (!) or uninstall/reinstall the SL client (which I told them I had done in my ticket). The reply also said that my issue was resolved. If I were a free account holder this might be ok but paying $85/month for premium + tier makes the copy/paste without even understanding my issue disappointing. So I tried to resolve this all morning by going to great pains to completely remove all traces of ATI software from my system, rebooting to safe mode and running ccleaner, etc. and then I reinstalled the new video card driver that came out on the 18 (weird, eh? I can't start the SL client on the 17th because it's telling me I don't have the current drivers at that time and then a new driver comes out on the 18th). SL is still the only 3D app that won't start. It's once again telling me to reinstall my drivers. I've spent hours on this but can't keep reinstalling video drivers with no change in results.

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Unable to start SL client