Help, I can't seem to get sl working

I bought a new laptop. I downloaded sl. Everything seems fine. I log in. It loads the full bar and then crashes everytime. I have cleared my cache. I believe I have the system requirements with a intel dual processor and intel graphics chip. it's a german acer laptop. my last laptop was an acer and older and sl worked great.

help please, i don't want to stop playing sl. I have asked 3 times for help from sl and get a email saying they have solved my problem and it turns out they haven't so i thought maybe players might know.


thanks for any help

Sarinah

Hi Sarinah, welcome to the forums. If it's a brand new laptop, have you tried updating the graphics drivers? Often new computers come with outdated drivers.

Download the new ones from the Intel site, then uninstall your current driver (important step for SL!), and install the new one.

If that doesn't work, please post a little more detail on your system ... the actual graphics chip model/version, the amount of memory the chip says it has, and the amount of ram your laptop has. Thanks!
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To tell the truth, I don't read or speak german, lol, which makes things difficult. I'm not sure how to download a new driver. I did look on intel and it seems like it's the same one i have on my laptop.

specs

mobile intel 960 gl express chipset
3d graphic, intel graphic media accelerator *which i imagine is the driver*
x3100 358mb intel dynamic video memory technology 4.0

i think I've included the important stuff. please help me get back to playing sl.

thanks

sarinah

I can play world of warcraft with my new laptop. So i'm assuming it's not the graphics, but i could be wrong.

i decided to try out different programs to see if it's the graphics.

There &
Active Worlds

both programs work perfectly fine on my laptop. They are like sl in ways, a virtual community.

ugg, but i like sl best.


anymore info you need, I'll give.

thanks

Sarinah

Most older Acer laptops came with ATI graphics in them, and SL has had fixes in place for them since Vers. 1.18.2(1). I could be wrong, but I don't believe Intel Xtreme graphics chips are in the SL supported hardware list, or at least I remember they weren't at one time not long ago.
If you can't get it going, it might be worth it to try using an older version SL viewer... dunno.
Acer is a product of Taiwan.

SL's Requirements don't mention Intel's 960 chip by name; they do say the 945 works. I have dealt with 3 of the Intel chipsets and SL, and here's what my experience:

> On a desktop with the 960 chipset (not mobile, the regular one), SL ran OK. Low frame rate of course, but it ran very reliably. I was able to upgrade drivers, no problem.

> On a thinkpad with the 960 Mobile Express chipset that you say you now have, I was never able to get SL to run. However, the Thinkpad would not let me use Intel's drivers, I had to use Lenovo's. I tried several, it never worked.

> I'm now running SL on a laptop with an Intel 915 GMExpress chipset. I had to upgrade the drivers once, and now for some reason it is very stable. I'm afraid to touch it.

I'm afraid you will have to figure out how to change the drivers. Be very careful to uninstall before you install new ones!
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So basically i'm screwed. lol. I have the chip that doesn't work with sl. i don't know why changing the driver would help. since the chip is still going to be that chip. Since I am not knowledgeable, and in a foreign country *no easy access to a new chip* I will just have to quit playing sl. Which is sad. I'll miss the friends i made on there the most.

thanks for your help anyways

Well, I wouldn't entirely give up. The drivers make a big difference .. like I say ... the laptop I'm using now wouldn't run SL at all until I upgraded the drivers. If you can figure out how, I would definitely give one or two different drivers a try.

Good luck!
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