Newbie Help =(

Yesterday signed up to 2nd Life on recommendation and I haven't been able to progress beyond signing up.

I have installed the 2nd Life software but for the last 24 hours have been attempting to log in and it has not worked. It accepts my username and password, starts logging in but then fails. I'm not sure what could be causing this, and I apologise if this has been answered elsewhere but I'd truly appreciate some guidance. Thanks

Is there any message that comes up when it fails to log you in? Sometimes if a particular region is down it won't log you in.

On your start up screen before logging in, go to edit->preferences->general->start locations. Click on the box to show your start location on screen. You can change that to any sim name. Linden Estate Services, or some of the color sims (Green, Mauve) seem to be pretty stable ones to come into.

Hi, Akeelah, welcome to the forums! We'll need a little more information:

1. How exactly does it fail? Do you get a message, does the windows crash logger come up, or?

2. We'd like to know a few things about your computer. You can find everything that SL really cares about listed on their Help/About screen. Go to the login page, then choose Help from the toolbar. Pick the About menu choice, and you'll see a dialog that has (among other things) some information about your computer. Please cut and paste that info into a message here.

Thanks!

Thank you both for replying

When I attempt to log in, the first message I get is when it says Waiting for region handshake: "We're having trouble connecting. There may be a problem with your internet connection or the Second Life servers. You can either check your internet connection and try again in a few minutes, click Help to connect to our support site, or click Teleport to attempt to teleport home"

If I then try to log in again it says "You have been disconnected from the region you were in"

My internet connection is fine as I've been using it for other things.

Melodie - the only start location options I have are my home or my last location.

Nika here is the info you asked for:

Second Life 1.23.5 (136262) Oct 14 2009 12:08:26 (Second Life Release)
Release Notes

Built with MSVC version 1400

CPU: Intel Core Series Processor (1729 MHz)
Memory: 1014 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista (Build 6000)
Graphics Card Vendor: Intel
Graphics Card: Intel 945GM
Windows Graphics Driver Version: 7.14.0010.1114
OpenGL Version: 1.4.0 - Build 7.14.10.1114

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.18.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8j zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.740000
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.27906 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.21_0000000000)

There is a status report that some regions are experiencing technical difficulties which is what it is sounding like you are experiencing.
http://status.secondlifegrid.net/2009/10/28/post784/

There should be a third choice on the start locations that says something like "type region name".

Thanks Akeelah. I see two problems here: SL *is* having some trouble connecting with your network. It needs some open firewall ports, and that might be a problem if you are on a shared network, like at a school or workplace. (Ports 443/TCP, 12035/UDP, 12036/UDP, 12043/TCP, and 13000-13050/UDP). Also, it needs a fair amount of sustained bandwidth, particularly on login, at least 400kbps. (You can test your bandwidth at http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?flash=1 ). If you are on a wireless connection, it may occasionally drop below that and cause a disconnect.

Once you get past the connect issue, you will have a problem with your video chips. They should really tell people that, although the Intel 945 chipset will work, the mobile version (what you have, that's what the GM means) is really marginal. On the login screen, go to Edit/Preferences and choose the Graphics tab. Turn all the sliders to the minimum, turn off all shaders, and try to login. If you get in successfully, then you can twiddle with the graphics and bump up any that your chips can handle.

Hi Akeela. SL is going to be a little difficult to run on that machine, I'm afraid. It's a rather minimal computer for SL. SL is quite computational and graphics intensive......I mean really intensive. I think you have Vista Basic as your operating system so I don't believe you have the "Aero" stuff (all those bells and whistles that eat up rersorces) so you can't turn that off........but you can take a look at what's running in the background that is not necessary. If you can turn everything off except the essentuals to keep the computer running and your antivirus and firewall. Before you log in but are at the log in screen at the top of the page you will see the "edit" menu.........open that. On the general tab you should see an option to "show start location".......check that (it gives you a field on the UI to type in a start location so you have the option of starting out somewhere besides your last location or home), Next go to the "Graphics" tab and set your graphics to the minimum. Then hit "apply" and okay out of the dialog box. Restart SL ("file" > quit or simply hit the "X" at the top of your UI screen). Relaunch SL and you'll see a start location box to type in a place to log into......type Philudoria in the field. Try logging in again. If the log in is successful you will be on the sim I "live" on which is a pretty quiet sim with not too many people and, for the most part, lag free. Then hit the "Search" button at the bottom of your UI, check "Places", type in "NCI". Teleport there.....it's a nice welcoming "Newbie" place.

If all that doesn't work then you might have to do some more tweaking. Your system RAM is just enough to run Vista with very little to spare. Your graphics chipset is bare minimum for SL. But, I know systems with lower specs than yours have successfully gotten in SL and do experience a reasonable level of performance.......slow but at least able to get around and enjoy the game.

oh dear looks like i won't be playing. Thanks for the help

Don't give up yet. Go to http://my.opera.com/boylane/blog/ and you will find links to several alternate viewers that can access Second Life. One is the Rainbow Viewer, which is designed for netbooks (these often have the same graphics chip you have). The other is the Cool Viewer 1.19.0.5 R59 (legacy and fast non-Windlight renderer).

Both of these viewers will run on older computers. The graphics are not as pretty as running a more powerful GPU, but they will run and let you look around and explore SL.

The laptop I often play on has Intel 910GM chips, 1GB memory, and an ultraslow Celeron CPU! I actually use Snowglobe. It can be done, don't give up. Just crank down the graphics.