Unable to run, video card driver not installed properly, out of date.

Hi
I have just signed up to second life and downloaded it. When I try to run it I get an error saying

"Second life is unable to run because your video card drivers did not install properly, are out of date, or are for unsupported hardware. Please make sure you have the latest video card drivers and even if you do have the latest, try reinstalling them. If you continue to receive this message, contact customer service."

I have since down loaded the latest version and am using a Matrox Millennium G400 card.
But am still getting the same error message.

Any ideas how to fix this problem.

Denny

I have much the same problem, and 'error message'

Tried running SL on both Laptop/Vista Home, and on older PC with GEForce FX5200 card for which I have installed latest drivers.

Tried uninstall and re-download and run SL, still same bl**dy message. Any help or pointers would be appreciated.

Vivvy

Please take a look at the system requirements page of this game, I am going to copy and paste an important part of that page here for you.

http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php

** Second Life may not run on graphics cards other than the ones listed above. The following cards are NOT compatible with Second Life:

NVIDIA cards that report as a RIVA TNT or TNT2
ATI cards that report as RAGE, RAGE PRO, or RADEON 320M, 340M, 345M, or similar model numbers
Intel chipsets less than a 945 including Intel Extreme
Cards with the following branding: 3DFX, RIVA, TNT, SiS, S3, S3TC, Savage, Twister, Rage, Kyro, MILENNIA, MATROX

Sorry. Your MATROX video card does not meet the minimum requirements to run Second Life. You will, at the very least, have to buy a better video card.

The system requirements for SL are on this page:

http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php

Take a good look at those specs. Real-time 3D rendering in an environment chock-full of unique user-created content is extremely demanding on a computer's memory, video card, and video ram. A system that shipped with a Matrox Millennium G400 card is probably too low-power to use successfully for accessing Second Life, even if you did upgrade the video card. You may find you would also need more RAM and a faster CPU, and that it would be cheaper to buy a new computer than to upgrade what you have to the point where it will marginally work.

Your Matrox Millennium G400 card was considered "pretty advanced" back in 1999, with 16 MB or 32 MB of VRAM. By today's standards, it is extremely poor. You're lucky if it can still run Windows XP. That card plugs into an AGP 4x slot, which indicates your computer is similarly old, and won't support the newer PCI or PCI Express slots that a modern video card requires. You'll be stuck with older cards that still work on the old AGP 4x slot, and with the limits imposed by the size of the power supply on that older system.

That said, a new video card, and making sure you have at least 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM may be all you need, at least to get in. One of the systems I use for casual access to SL is so old that it still has an AGP slot for the video card. But I was able to buy a used NVIDIA card at Goodwill for about 40 bucks, and some extra RAM at the same source for fairly cheap, and it does a reasonable job now. Just don't expect it to do terribly well. At best, you'll have limited graphics and slow frame rates.

I will highly recommend that you set Second Life aside and save up for a better computer. It's unlikely you would enjoy the slow performance that your existing hardware would give you, even with a better video card and more RAM.

Afraid you also have a card that is too old. For a system running Vista, the minimum GEForce card is the 6600. A 5200 won't cut it.

In your case, you probably CAN just go to Goodwill or a discount electronics shop and get a cheap or used video card that will get you in the door. But as with my previous post, I'll recommend you look long and hard at the hardware requirements for SL, before you decide to upgrade. A new computer may get you better performance for the same money as the needed video card and RAM upgrades, unless you find a sweet deal on some used gear.

Oddly enough, I was able to get on fine with a 5200. I've since bought a 7300, and I can't get on any more (See my "Failure to Launch" post).