random crashes - please read

I recently rebuilt my machine, and since then SL has run smooth as a baby's bottom. Last night the random crashes began. I can be opening inventory, opening prefs, taking snapshot, editing a prim, hitting colorpicker, nothing specific, just total random actions.

I have cleared cache. I have reinstalled. I have deleted extra SL files and reinstalled again. I normally run at ultra graphics settings, although I have tried running at other levels and even minimum settings, and same random crashes.
Im at a loss as to what is causing this. Any help would be appreiciated.



Intel(R) Core2 Duo CPU e8500 @3.16ghz
Nvidia GeForce 9800gt

running SL 1.21.6 (99587)

Installing a video card from scratch usually gets you really ancient drivers for it.

Which nvidia drivers do you have?

The latest from Nvidia i believe 181.22

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_181.22_whql.html

Bummer - was hoping for the easy answer..

When you say 'crash' do you mean SL crashes or your whole PC crashes?

You can try posting specs from Help->About Second Life here.

Yeah, no easy answer lol sorry!
When I say crash, its just SL, not the pc. SL crashes instantly to desktop and prompts me to enter a reason in the crash logger.


Second Life 1.21.6 (99587) Oct 14 2008 17:42:25 (Second Life Release)
Release Notes

CPU: Intel Pentium III/Pentium III Xeon (0.25 micron process) with external L2 cache (3166 MHz)
Memory: 2559 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 9800 GT/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.21367 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)

What seems the most bazaar is that you say after you rebuilt your computer (not sure how much you rebuilt but assuming it's a CPU, GPU, and maybe HD replacement without a new motherboard, etc) everything worked great until last night. It's somewhat bothersome to me the suddenness of the problems and the randomness..............have you scanned your computer for virus/malware? Check your processes that are running. It sounds like something has, for whatever reason, starting taking resources that weren't taken before.

I actually gutted it, and installed new hardware: motherboard, cpu, graphics card, memory. As for junk, its clean, and well protected! And no, I do not use norton lol ;p

The 175 series nVidia drivers are more SL-friendly than any of the newer ones. I'd suggest you roll back to 175.19.

XP 32-bit:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.19_whql.html

Vista 32-bit:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_175.19_whql.html

Vista 64-bit:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_175.19_whql.html


Don't forget to run Driver Cleaner to remove all traces of your current driver, by the way. Simply uninstalling won't do the trick. If you don't already have it, DC will cost you $10. As I so often say, it's easily worth at least 10 times that, so don't hesitate to grab it. You should run it every time you change driver versions, whether upgrading or rolling back.

http://www.drivercleaner.net

You are running XP service pack 1. You should have a minimum of SP2, and as SP3 is available, I would recommend installed that, as the network enhancements alone are worth having.

In addition, with SP 1 you get .NET Framework 1.1, again this is upto version 3 now, or 3.5 for Vista. You need this programme for SL.

Give those a go.

Also, I assume you upgraded those hardware components. Did you upgrade the Power Supply?

Good catch, WBA. I totally missed that. Yes, by all means, install SP3, Astry.

The power supply question is a good one as well. I don't know what you've got, but you need at least a 400W PSU for a 9800 GT. I'd go with at least 500-600W, to make sure there's enough for everything else.

Also take out and re-insert the memory sticks. SL uses parts of memory that most programs dont get up to, and a poor connection there can often cause the problem.
I actually have the same problem with my office machine, but its a mainboard memory addressing problem there, so I have to change the board at some time.

(edit)
Also try moving the memory stick order around.

Ahhh yes good catch! Will fix the SP problem today. If that still doesnt help the crash issue, will try the older drivers.

As for power supply, I kept mine, its still fairly new, a 630w Modular.

Have you checked your fans? It could be a cooling issue after adding more power hungry hardware

You can try and downloaded the latest RC 1.22.7 The .6 version crashed me alot, but the .7 seems to be fine (crosses fingers)

All new fans

I actually tried the new RC that Destiny mentioned this morning, and the last few hours have proved no crashes, which is a huge improvement, seeing as i was averaging several crashes in several minutes.

Thank you everyone for the advice and ideas. It all certainetly helped alot