Is it just me?

A short time ago, I was flying across SL when I was hit by a land-banning script. It forced a crash and logout. However, since then, I've been unable to get back into SL.

It gets as far as Verifying Protocol version... and then goes back to the login screen saying the system is not available.

I have dumped the cache, uninstalled and reinstalled SL and rebooted the pc and broadband... everything other than SL works fine.

Since that last update, my firewall shuts me down at that point Siob, so i disengaged my firewall since i have 2 other fire walls on my dsl modem and network router, and SL opens fine. I suppose it could be the same problem not sure.

I tried that ... didn't help

Oh! Well I don't know. What about your bandwidth? Mine was also cut in half because of a faulty line. or maybe the graphics card?? I can only give you suggestions.

( Sometimes mine will block things that fail to connect and retry several times. Flags it as an attack agent of one kind or another )

Nope, checked the firewall logs... it's not blocking anything from LL

For ages SL worked and then a couple months ago it stopped. I finally discovered that SL had expanded their network allocation, and I had to add some new addresses to my external firewall. Some or all of them might be used in SL communication.

I won't recommend how or what you do, but you can check your logs or ARIN can tell you what Linden's got allocated (at least under that name):

http://www.arin.net/whois/

To my knowledge, they've got:

66.150.0.0 /16
69.25.104.0 /23

And some other network I haven't seen come-across...I think that second one was the new one I had to add.

Can't help you on what ports and protocols are used... it seems to fluctuate alot between revs?

Indeed, but an hour ago it was fine...

hmm. I, um, seem to be having the same issue now. I just tp'd home to find myself invisible and unable to move in a water only sim. Logged out, can't log back in. Just hangs at the entering login queue thing. Fun.

Can you ping or traceroute to the various LL servers? I would not be surprised if there is a routing error in some trans-atlantic network. Although, if you can post on the forums, then maybe not. Contrariwise, forums require this much bandwidth: || and SL requires this much: |____________|, so perhaps you are encountering congestion. Have you tried Sudafed?

(trying to help but not doing so well ).

Confirmed, from here too. Calling all grid monkeys....

Update: transient error, I am in now, map is live, 31 AVs in DaBoom, no Lindens looking pensive at Ahern.

I'm having the same problem Sio...I haven't been able to sign into SL since yesterday and it gets to the verifying protocol version..then kicks me back to the start saying it can't connect. I'm using windows 2000..have changed nothing since I started playing SL in April..have defraged my hard drive..completely re-installed indows..deleted and re-installed SL. None of it seems to matter. I have no clue why I can sign into SL using my hubby's puter which is the same as mine...and have no problem. I contacted support and got a copy and paste answer none of which applies. So am completely frustrated. I hope you can get in soon..sorry for the ramble

It happens to me when I'm abruptly disconnected, but it does not stay that way more than 5 or ten minutes generally.

yus. a couple of lengthy waits and retries later and it finally got in for me too.

I'm still trying after a few hours...
It's the only thing I can't access... the firewall reports nothing, and ethereal reports my outgoing packets to LL but nothing incoming on my net from the SL servers...

As you can see, the forum works fine.


steps so far...

* wiped SL cache
* uninstalled SL and reinstalled
* reboot PC
* update firmware on router
* reinstall firewall
* virus scan
* adware scan
* network scan using ethereal in promiscuous mode
* yet another download and reinstall of SL...

result... still can't get past verifying protocol version...

Well...am still not in SL and am playing the trade email game with a Linden. He suggested disabling firewalls..etc which I have and its still a no go. I think yet again the problem is on SL's end and not ours Sio but of course that does nothing for us until they can figure out the problem on their end. Funny..seems we all get problems when the Lindens..yet AGAIN bring forward another patch to fix bugs.

*cries*
Linden's not even replied to my email yet ...

Click this.

This error message indicates that the Second Life software is receiving no signal from the server. We do monitor our servers continuously, and any server problem that might result in this error for our users automatically notifies our grid personnel and updates the Second Life status page. When the server is up and handling thousands of users just fine, however, a user who is receiving no data is somehow having their network access blocked.

In this situation, I'd like you to try the following steps as completely as possible.

First, if you have ANY firewall, antivirus, internet security, anti-spyware, anti-malware, or ANY software that monitors, controls, or blocks other programs or network activity, please fully disable it, close the program, or even uninstall it. This isn't a long-term solution, but if Second Life successfully loads with all other programs disabled, one of those programs is blocking Second Life access. Please double-check any configuration settings, including the Windows Firewall in the Control Panel as well as your router. Some residents reporting this problem have found their network security settings were changed without their knowledge or permission.

Second, completely remove Second Life, including all cache files, with the following steps:

1) Open c:\Documents and Settings\(yourusername)\Local Settings and delete the contents of your Temp folder.
2) Open c:\Documents and Settings\(yourusername)\Application Data\Second Life and delete the contents of the Cache folder.
3) Uninstall Second Life using the Add/Remove Programs tool in your Windows Control Panel.
4) Visit http://secondlife.com/download and download and install the latest release.

If you cannot see the files or folders, go to the Tools menu, choose Options, go to the View tab, and select Show Hidden Files and Folders. Then click OK.

Then, start up Second Life with the following steps:

1) Close down SL if it's running.
2) Click on the Start button and choose Run...
3) In the Run dialog, enter the following and select OK:
secondlife://ahern/120/0/
4) When Second Life appears, log in normally.

If Second Life still does not load, double-check and verify your router's firewall settings, or contact your ISP to ensure that you can still make the necessary connection to Second Life.

Successfully loading a web page does not mean your network connection and software are configured for Second Life access. Second Life needs to connect to ports 443/TCP, 12035/UDP, 12036/UDP, and 13000-13050/UDP. You should configure your firewall to allow outbound traffic on those ports, and related inbound traffic.

If you've been playing Second Life for awhile, I know it seems silly to run through all these steps, but the residents I talk to with this error always have some form of software that's blocking their access. I've talked with several developers, and it's next to impossible that our server would simply ignore a login for one or two users in a way that results in this error message.

I know it's a bit offtopic here, but couldn't we just have a long ago promised Linux version of SL?

I mean, hey, we could ltrace, strace it. Seems to me Windows programs are a hell to diagnose for end users

Isn't there anything like strace for Windows?
Or maybe a debug version of SL that writes a trace log into a file?

Edit...

Oh, one more idea! How about Linden Labs either making a 'network test program' for SL or a special command line switch that goes into 'network testing mode'? It would open the same ports as SL needs, listen, maybe even communicate a bit, to diagnose if the firewall is set okay.

Oh, Siobhan, we must have you back! You can't just live on the forums from now until forever! ((

Maybe reinstall Windows? (Or go to a neighbour and whack his PC with the SL client just to test things?)

I am kind of back. Oddly Lee ignored what I'd tried in his post, which included everything he'd suggested and more.
Ethereal was telling me that SL packets were going out from my net but woren't even getting back to my router, let alone my PC.

Anyway, I ended up reinstalling windows... now my network connection keeps timing out... and I have no idea why... it disconnects me for a fraction of a second every couple of hours and I lose SL needing to relog.

Relax everyone, they anounced yesterday that SL would be offline today till sometime this afternoon. They are working on the grid, preparing a new update, baking chocolate chip cookies and making our second lives safer and more enjoyable.

http://secondlife.com/status/

Second life will be back. Please do not do anything drastic like reinstall your OS!

I was shown a good breakdown of how the "Ethereal" third-party utility works today here at Linden. I was trying to wrap my head around how it could identify network traffic (or a lack thereof) outside of a firewall, from a computer inside the firewall. Is your router managed? What model/brand is it?

If there really is no network data coming back, it could be one of those rare freaky circumstances on the internet where the network of switches inbetween Linden and you can identify a path from you to Linden, but can't find a way from Linden back to you. (Believe it or not, it is possible). I'm not sure if your external IP has changed recently (I'd only be able to look up successful logins), but if you can email your external IP to support or message it to me, we may be able to try a trace from our server straight to you to ensure there's a path.

The news that reinstalling Windows improved the outlook a bit hints that there may still be something configured oddly on the local setup, but I'm not going to rule out possibilities quite yet. It does happen in an overwhelming number of "can't resolve server" cases that something on the computer or router is blocking network traffic (even if it was configured to do otherwise in the past). More information, however, is always helpful.

Speaking of which, you're not using any wireless networking, are you?