Help please

I can't access the SL world. When I open my program, it opens correctly to the llog-in page. Then I click log-in, and it goes to the loading page where my avatar was first. Then suddenly my entire screen goes blank. Occainsionally, my cursor will flash for a second, but nothing else happens. I don't get to the game or anything. My screen is just blank. I have to quit by pressing Ctrl_Q. It then goes to the log-in page, but there's an error saying I was disconnected or something. When I click ok, SL is closed.

What's going on?

Sounds like a video card issue or a memory error.

What are your system specs?

When I log into to my Avi.I go home and I get my World Map that pops up and won't go away and need to now what I can do get it to where it won't pop up when I go home.

I'm not sure what you mean, Annabelle. It was working fine, but now...

Avalee, has your computer software been recently updated? Such as video drivers or a plain Windows update?

Also, by listing your system specs, maybe we can get a better idea of how to help you.

Example: ATI's newer cards with the latest drivers do NOT like SL.

Well, no....I haven't updated my computer in a while. Should I do that now?

I'm sure it would help if you knew my system's specs, but I'm not 100% sure what those are. I could give you what I think you mean though....

My computer runs on Vista.
AMD Turion (tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-59 1.60 GHz
958 MB
32-bit Operating System


Is that what you mean?

Hmm... Video card?

That's a start, Avalee.

Someone who's a Vista user can probably tell you where to find out what video card and drivers you're using. I use Windows XP, so I can't help there.

How are you connecting to the internet? Do you use a wireless connection from your laptop to your router? or hard wired, with a network cable?

Do you have DSL, or use a cable modem, or fiber optics (FIOS)?

Do you use a software firewall? (probably, if you are using the default settings for Vista).

I was having a lot of system freeze errors and crashes.

Turns out half my memory was bad. I'm running on half of system memory, and it actually runs better now.

Start > Control Panel > System, then in the left-hand pane, Device Manager. Click the + sign beside Display Adapters to find out which videocard you're using. Right-click *that* and select Properties, then go to the Driver tab for the driver version.

I think I have a Navidia video card. I'm not sure which one though.

I have wireless connection from my laptopp, which is cable.

And the first time I played SL, a firewall thing did pop up, bu I clicked allow, and it never bothered me again.


I think I should also say that I can access SL fine right after I restart my laptop. But when I quit that current game then tryy to get on later, it does this.

Another good thing to try is the Can You Run It? site:

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Select 'Second Life' from the dropdown menu (you'll have to install a small component that can be removed when the test is finished) and the site will tell you whether your system in its current configuration will be able to run SL, and it'll also tell you where any problems might lie.

I found the little video card thing. I have NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150. and the version is 7.15.10.9746.

It could be that something in the SL software has become corrupted. You might try uninstalling SL and then reinstalling it.

Then again it could just be SL. I was logged in earlier and did a tp got the "you have been disconnected from SL" message and now I can not get back in.

I have tried the go to home option and even logging on an alt but I get to the region handshake message logging on then the "despite our best efforts" or "we are having touble connecting" messages.

6150 is not a great card for SL. Also, it's been known to have issues with wireless connections.

In your case, I'd reboot the modem and any router that your computer is connecting through. Might not be letting go of the old connection.

You're probably not going to like reading what I'm about to say, sorry.

I'm not surprised to hear you're having problems. Your video card is three years out of date, and it was very low end even when it was current. So you know, with most nVidia cards, the first digit denotes the series, and the second digit tells you the performance level within the series. They typically run from x100 to x900. In the GeForce 6 series, the 6100 was the worst, and the 6800 was the best. (There was no 6900.) Yours, 6150, was the second worst.

But wait, it gets even sadder. Since yours is the laptop version, it's not even going to run at its peak performance levels at all times, low as those would be anyway. The card will slow itself down periodically in an attempt to conserve battery life, making it an even worse performer than its desktop counterpart.

From the specs I just looked up, the 6150 didn't even have dedicated video memory. It was an integrated graphics card that borrowed memory from system RAM (shared memory). Shared memory, while relatively common in laptops, is always the first sign of a video card to avoid. Graphics-intensive programs like SL, video games, art programs, etc., either won't run at all on systems with shared memory, or will run extremely slowly and will be very prone to crashing. The biggest reason for this is that system RAM is MUCH slower at handling graphics information than real video memory is.

At any rate, the first thing you should try is updating your video driver. Laptop drivers can be hard to find, though, especially for outdated stuff. Check your laptop manufacturer's website to see if they've go anything available for downlaod that's more current than what you've got. If not, try scouring the Web to see if you can find anything elsewhere. Just make sure you set a System Restore point before you install whatever you find, so you can revert in case it makes things worse.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but frankly, your best bet is to get a new computer. Three years for a laptop is like six for a desktop, and I think you'd agree that any desktop would be hopelessly outdated after six years. The usable lifespan for most laptops is 12-18 months. You're pushing double to triple that at this point. It's time to move up.