Can't Log Onto Second Life

Hello, I just downloaded Second Life today, but everytime I try to log on, a message pops up saying that my computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements because I don't have enough space on my computer and that I could experience poor performance trying to run Second Life. I have over 10 GB available, and the game only needs 500 and some MB to run, if I remember correctly. I checked all the other requirements, and my computer meets every single one. But every single time I try to connect, I get that same message, it begins to log me on, but once it gets to 'waiting for regional handshake', it says there is a problem connecting. I've tried uninstalling and re-installing it, I've tried clearing up even more memory on my computer, I've tried deleting it entirely and re-downloading it, and nothing's working.

Any ideas on how to fix this would be much appreciated!

System specs are in order.

This would include things such as

Make and model of computer.

What operating system, version, service pack level, etc.

How much ram?

Type of processor

Make and model of video card.

How much video ram?

Version of graphics driver.

What kind of internet service?

Wired or wireless network?
========================

Are you getting two different error messages, one about not having enough room, and one about having a problem connecting?

===========

You might try the "Can You Run It?" site at http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest and see what it says.

Technically they are two different error messages, although I just assumed the reason why I couldn't log on was part of the 'poor performance' warning of the first message. My computer meets all the requirements listed in the 'system requirements' section, so I don't know what the problem is.

I just tried the website you suggested, and it said I failed to meet the requirements because I have only 447 MB of available space, and the game needs 512 MB. But when I first began installing it and went through the process of selecting the language, which folder to put it in, etc. etc., it specifically told me I had 10 GB of available space. I deleted several games that I don't really play anymore that were over 2,000 MB apiece--so what do I need to do? Just keep deleting old programs until it finally decides I have enough space for it?

I think you are confusing RAM and hard drive space.

RAM is an acronym for Random Access Memory, memory in which the time to access each element is essentially the same, so that it doesn't matter what address data is stored at so far as access time goes. RAM memory as the term is commonly used means the high speed solid state memory that comes as RAM chips, DRAMs, SDRAM, and various other such terms, which are solid state silicon devices that plug into slots on your motherboard. A home user with a whole lot of memory these days has 4 gigabytes of memory, 4 billions bytes, roughly.

You appear to have 512M of RAM, 512 million bytes, part of which are used by your video system, thus giving the 447M figure reported.

You are below the mimimum memory requirement for SL, I think, since part of your RAM is being used for video and is not available for the rest of the operating system.

The 10 gigabyte figure refers to hard drive space.

I don't think you need to have more hard drive space. If you got it to install, you almost certainly don't need more hard drive space.

What you need appears to be more RAM, and for good results, you probably need a video card.

I could be misinterpreting things, of course, since you didn't give your system specs.

Mm. That does make sense--I just cleared up even more hard drive space, so obviously that can't be the problem.

My current card is a NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX, which is one of the cards specifically listed under minimum requirements, but I know it isn't a very high-end card--I've had trouble before finding games that will run with it. Is that my problem, then? I just need a better card?

According to the Can You Run It site:

AMD Athalon XP 2800

My CPU speed is 2.08 GHz

I'm on Windows XP, and my card has the required amount of video RAM, the 3D accelerator, and the video HW transform and lighting. I meet every requirement except the system RAM; is there some way to fix this, or is my only option a new video card?

Thanks for your help!

More RAM is needed. This involves, in shortened form, identifying what kind of chip or chips to buy, opening the computer, and putting the chip or chips in properly. To identify what kind of chip to buy you will need to find your system specs, or possibly use a web site that can figure it out for you.

The video system you have is a bare bare minumum sytem, and I suspect it's not a card but in integrated graphics processor, a video processor built in to the motherboard.

It sounds like the computer I"m using to post this on, which has 512 megs of ram and an onboard nVidia Geforce4 MX 440. I don't use this machine to run SL, it's too slow. It does work, though, last time I tried, but very slowly.

Adding memory such that you have 1 Gigabyte, which would be twice what you have, plus get a video card, and SL would run tolerably well if your standards aren't too high.

You will probably be looking for a cheap model card made for older machines, or getting a used video card.

I suspect your sytem has an AGP video slot, at best. You would need to find out whether it has PCI-E, the modern kind of video slot, or AGP, the older style of good video slot, or plain PCI, which would be bad news.

You can get a lot of system information on a XP machine by doing start, Programs, Accessories, sytem tools, system info.

There are also free programs that will give you all sorts of system specs. You can also do Start Run dxdiag to get some system info.

For best enjoyment of SL you would probably want to get a new computer or buy a better used computer.

Is your computer one that has a make and model? Like for example a Compaq Presario S4500NX? For computers with brand and make and model numbers that's and efficient way to tell a lot about a system. I just had to move the junk in front of mine to find that model number.