What changed this week to cause red map crashes?

Hi, I was offline from last Sunday through Thursday. When I came back last night and today, I am running into a new issue for me: I get the red map warning message and crash within a few minutes (5 minutes maximum) of logging in. Of the two little bars in the upper right corner, the left one is now high red. In addition, textures and objects are loading exceptionally slow and generally the prims I'm wearing don't fully load before the red map crash.

I notice also a long delay between when I see someone typing a message and when that message actually appears (more than a minute delay).

I've been using the Nicholas viewer from February which is compatible with SL's version 1.19. When I first got this laptop a month ago, I tried SL's 1.20 version and was getting the "out of memory" crashes, despite 4 gb of memory (vista 64 system) and 512 mb on the graphic card. That's why I downgraded to 1.19 and Nicholas's version of it. That has run smoothly without any crashes at all for the whole month.

Has something changed this week that would cause issues like this? Any suggestions for what I can do? Here is my computer's technical information, if that is helpful:

HP HDX 9300 (laptop) with dual intel core2 2.1ghz processors, nvidia 8800m gts with 512mb, windows vista 64 ultimate home edition, 4gb rams, and.....not sure what else would be useful to know. The laptop has been using a home wireless connection and windows reports no problems with that connection. The dsl is through Windstream.

As recently as a week ago, I was connected five hours straight while making the prim attachments for a new dress. No issues. So I'm puzzled why I am not unable to remain connected.

Last week LL updated grid code..........rolling restarts for all the regions over three days. I'm not sure that would cause you any problems though.

I"m puzzled why the 1.20.xx SL viewer won't work on you computer. I know there are others with that card since it's a common nVidia card for laptops. Have you gone to nVidia's wedsite and searched for more recent drivers? I know some people have a little trouble with 64 bit drivers but they eventually get it all worked out.

editing to add........

Have you cleared your cache and reset your router and modem?

Yes, to the cache and router/modem question. No, to the nvidia driver question, so I'll try that first. Thank you, Peggy.

Alright, new wrinkle. Maybe this is not an SL problem after all, but I'm hoping one of you tech savvy people might still come to the rescue. *smiles*

I went to nvidia's website and discovered that updates for the video card for my laptop are handled by HP instead (nvidia provides a link). So I finally found the right one and began the download.

Here is the discovery.

I'm downloading the file at only 20 KB a second. Why would this be the case? And now that I noticed that, I'm also remembering I tried to watch streaming video of hurricane Ike and every few seconds it would pause.

So maybe it's not the video card driver, nor SL, but some problem with the connection. But what? I will try to follow suggestions, but please understand I am technologically challenged. Any ideas what I can try? Thank you again.

You say you are wireless. If you can get a Cat 5 ethernet cable and hardwire to your router. Or maybe move closer to you wireless connection point. Check to see if your wireless phone has been moved........it can interfer. Do you have any Bluetooth devices operating close to your computer or router/modem?

Also, I found out a few days ago that routers are not secured from outsiders piggy backing on your connection to the internet by default........it's something you have to do manually in the setup for your router (your operators manual should tell you how to do that). If your router is an "N" model it is longer range than the "G" models......it could be someone close to you (like a nieghbor) is either piggy backing on you or causing interferrence.

You can also call you ISP...........they may be experiencing problems in your area.

Thank you again for the suggestions. I live with my father and the router is in his office at the other end of the house. I am getting five bars and "excellent" connection. When I open the task manager during an attempted download, I see that I am using less than half of one percent of the network at my 20-45kb rate.

His computers (yes, two) are connected with wire to the router. I'm not sure what the download rate is for him, but when I peeked at them today, they both said the connection was a 100mb connection.

There is a wireless phone in the room next to his office, but it's in the same place it has been for a long time.

My laptop does have bluetooth built in, but I don't have any bluetooth devices.

I turned off all three computers and unplugged the router for ten minutes. Then I plugged the router back in and turned on only my laptop. I still am getting the tiny little download rate.

I am not sure about how to secure the router. I think it might be over my head. My father does not recall any software coming with the router, so I'm not sure how to change anything on it. I'll pester him about finding any manual that might have come with it.

Since it's the weekend, I didn't try to call the ISP.

Anyway, just wanted to update on what I had and hadn't done so far. If you have other suggestions or anything else to add, I'd be glad to try them. I'm in design mode and eager to get back in to see how things look. *smiles*

Hi, Sweet. Yes, a network problem is the most likely source of your redmaps. You can get evidence on that by measuring your download speed.

First, find some software that you like that will measure both your download and upload speed. In my experience, one needs at least 300kbps download speed to run SL reliably. I use the tests at: http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

I use either their FLASH or Java plugin tests, both work well enough. These are nice, because you can use them on one of your Dad's computers, without downloading any new applications that he will ask you about

Try it on your Dad's computer, then try it on your wireless connection. That'll tell you whether it's your wireless flaking out (very common), or your ISP/router flaking out.

(oh, and btw, nicholaz's 1.19- based builds still work fine. I use his EC-f quite often. LL's 1.20 released client is reputed to have some major memory issues, but that is almost certainly not what you're seeing.)

Good luck!
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You might using a cable to connect your laptop in your father's office and see what result you get.

Windows update might have installed a different network diriver that causes problems. I've had that happen on my totally dissimilar system.

Sometimes a driver just gets corrupted and works when reinstalled.

If HP has a forum you might post your problem there.

Have you searched the SL jira system?

I did the flash tester at dslreports twice. The result was 131kb download, 305kb upload.

I'll try the same test on his computers tomorrow and also try connecting my laptop to the router with one of his wires.

Supposing Windows did install a different network driver that was the cause of this, how would I know? And how would I fix it? If after trying all the other things, I get nowhere, I will go to HP again and see if I can find anything useful. As for SL's jira, I did visit it once about a year and a half ago, and I could not even begin to understand what I was looking at. *sighs*

Update: My father's hard-wired computers have the same slow download (140kb this morning) and normal upload (330ish). He called Windstream and after almost an hour on hold, spoke to someone in India who, after another thirty minutes on hold, promised to send a technician tomorrow morning.

Great job, Sweet! Good luck with the ISP ... if it's DSL, the little modems that ISPs give/sell you seem to die more often than most electronics. My ISP sent me a new one without bothering to send a tech.
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*beams* Thank you! Incidentally, I did have to download software on his computers because the flash thing at dslreports required a more recent version of flash than he had, lol.

I do hope it turns out to be as simple as replacing the router.

Well this may be more difficult than it seems......



....the Windstream guy did not show up.

In the interest of closure, although the technician from the dsl company never showed up, this morning I discovered that the internet connection is back to normal, and the dslreport showed a download speed of 5380 instead of the 140ish from the last week. I jumped into SL a few minutes and happily all seems well again (using Nicholas 1.19 compatible viewer).

Thank you to all the kind people who helped me resolve this, even though it turned out not to be an SL issue at all. *smiles*