My problems have problems

Well this is both good news and bad news. The bad news is that I'm still crashing between 1-30 mins of being in SL. The good news is that this time, something different happened right before I crashed which might help diagnose the problem. Okay, here's a recap:

I've been on SL for a little over a month now. I've used SL on 2 computers, a desktop that barely met the min. requirements, and a laptop that surpassed the requirements. I'm having more problems with the laptop than I ever did with the PC (the only prob I had with the PC was the lagging, but that was due to no memory on my part). Everytime I play SL on the laptop, I'll login, go in world, shop around and out of the blue, I'll just crash. And when I crash, I CRASH. I have to give a hard reboot (don't know if thats the proper term, but I have to turn power off and restart, it doesn't crash to the desktop). Now, about the last 3 or 4 times this has happened, my screen will start to flicker while in the game. It will flash "rainbow-ish" colors. This time, it flashed and flicker and then froze. Now, although I think the "rainbow-ish" colors are pretty, I prefer not to have them lol. Can anyone help....PLEASE?! Here are my specs below:


System Model: Dell Inspiron XPS Gen2
OS Name: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2
Name: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra
Free Space Available: 14.4GB

I really don't know what to and what not to put for specs, so if I'm missing something, just asked and I'll put it up =)

The rainbow flashing effect can sometimes be cured by unticking the VBO box on the advanced graphic tab in preferences. Doubt if that will help with the crashing problem, but worth a try.

how much ram

Wulfric,
I unchecked the VBO box and so far no flickering! =) I don't know if thats the reason for the crashing problem, I was only in SL for about 10 mins to see if unchecking the VBO box worked (plus, since everything was going good, I was scared I was gonna crashed and logged out lol)

I do plan on logging back in and running it for at least 45 mins to see if I crash.

Osgeld, I have 2.00 GB of RAM (hoping thats a good number lol)

2 gig of RAM is good.

One possibility is that your system could be overheating after it's been running a while. Make sure you have good ventilation / airflow around the computer. Can you monitor the heat of the CPU or graphics card?

Hop over here and compare the lastest Driver Release for your graphics card to the set your running:
www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

-Tab

get a cooling pad.

my laptop crashes if it is not cool enough and SL heats up that CPU..

How do you like the xps laptop? I got the floor top LOL it dont fit on a desk

I completely destroyed my Dell XPS with Second Life, even with a cooling pad, exterior fans, etc. The graphics card just got too hot and crashes were occurring within 10 mins of logging in. Desktops make SL happy

There was a post elsewhere that suggested a cure for NVIDIA gpu red flashing effect in SL was to turn off Show Property Lines. It worked for me and many others.

That being said, a rainbow flashing effect is one of the signs that a graphics chip shows when overheating/failing. If you have the ability to compare your laptop performance in the cold outdoors vs inside with central heating, I'd wager your laptop would be more stable in the colder environment, perhaps avoiding the rainbow effect entirely.

Once you prove it's a heat issue, then it's a matter of changing the equipment (assuming it is not performing up to mfg specs) or changing the environment (using a laptop stand with a fan, finding a 3rd party fan control shareware for your particular laptop, etc.).

YMMV.

Pecos,
I have no way of telling how hot the computer gets except for placing my hand underneath it LOL, Is there something I can download/buy that will show me?

Tabitha,
I went to Nvidia's website, and it said that I would have to d/l the update from Dell, but I remember reading somewhere on the forums that the updates from Dell, or the windows updates wouldn't work on SL so now i'm lost lol...

Distilled1 Rush,
So far I was loving the XPS laptop, there pretty much wasn't a game that this baby couldn't run, and even though me and Dell don't see eye to eye about the adapter and it's problems (which is another story) it's the best laptop I ever had. Now that there's a chance SL won't run on it, well...*mumbles* lol.

Sansarya,
Don't mention desktops, you'll make me sad lol. I love my laptop, but I would buy a desktop just to play SL on it, IF i had the money *pouts*

Molly,
I'll try turning off the Show Property Lines as well and see how that goes. But if the rainbow flashing effect is a sign of overheating/failing, than I would have to say that its overheating. I played other games on the laptop and I don't get the flickering and rainbow effect, only when I'm in SL. I don't know if I just need better ventilation and airflow (which is probably the cure) or if it just won't work on a laptop =( But I'll try sitting outside and playing the game , if it is a overheating issue, that I'll look into getting cooling pads and such. Although, this does worry me a bit, the last thing I want is for my graphics card to blow. lol

"I have no way of telling how hot the computer gets except for placing my hand underneath it LOL, Is there something I can download/buy that will show me"

goto control panel and then the Nvidia Control panel >3D settings>monitor gpu temp and you can check the temp of the GPX CPU as well have it tell you if it hits a threshold. and starts a slowdown or shut down.

and for all the computer you can try...http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
I used to use that on my old white boxes to check specs and such a great little program to see whats what and it monitors temps as well and can log for you too.

there are some Dell Apps on the XPS and if its new you can do the Dell XPS special help with stuff as well, if you trust there techs