Severe Difficulty Logging In

I have been having great difficulty logging in to SL over the last 2-3 weeks, and would like to know if any other residents have encountered the same problems. The login process regularly hangs at "connecting to region" - then after 10-15 minutes logs me in to a blank screen (looks like underwater!) where I can't see anything, access my inventory or my friends list, or do anything at all except take a snapshot and log out. The problem is noticeably worse when logged-in numbers are high.

I have an Apple iMac 2GHz with an Ethernet connection to a NetGear DG834G wireless router/firewall/modem. This set-up has been working fine for 3-4 months until 2-3 weeks ago.

I have been discussing this with the Linden support team, and have done various things including upgrading the router firmware, configuring the firewall to recognise SL ports and servers - none of this seems to have any effect.

The Linden support team suggest that the wireless router is the problem, but as it is integrated with the modem, I can't bypass it, so it seems their only solution is to switch to another modem. Which is all very well, but my family want to use the wireless router!

Any suggestions welcome!

Marion, can you not try another modem just to check .. or are the family on 24/7?
This would at least be an indication. It might disprove the router as the cause so no problem there?

the thing is I would have to buy a modem - I'd really like to know if this would work first!

How about trying SL from one of the other computers?

mm thanks, that's a possibility, although I'm not sure they would cope, they're smallish laptops, also my son has Linux on his and can't get a working version of SL

Really surprised no-one else has jumped in with ideas here. Getting back to the modem swap idea, is there no-one nearby who could lend you one for a couple of hours?
I assume Linden Support went through your machine specs e.g. graphics? I don't know much about Apple I'm afraid.

Sounds to me like a typical ISP support answer. It is never them that are the cause of the problem, on the basis that although your system has worked flawlessly for months on end, YOU must have changed something!
The only thing that may.. cause an issue is the form of security you are using between the receiver and the sender devices. The higher the bit alogorithum used for secure the wireless stream, the time lapse in decoding each paket, may cause the packet to become dead. The overhead would require a constant stream of packets to make up the losses, if LL servers are extending the ping rates (which they do) then the problem becomes more severe.
Not an ideal solution, but try turning 'down' your security bit rate from 128 (if thats your default), just for a period of time to see if that improves the situation. This is assuming you haven't changed the layout/positioning of either the base router or PC/Laptop arrangement, which includes introducing a microwave or similar appliance in your home near to either peice of equipment (including neighbours if you house is joinned). You can check this by looking at the signal strength and quality of your connection, via the icon in the task bar (assuming you have 'show connections' enabled in the connection properties).

Thanks, that sounds a possibility I haven't tried yet - where would I access the security bit rate - in the Mac or the router?

No I haven't moved anything - I'll look at the connection strength

Gaybot, yes I have tried logging into different locations, from SLurls and my own locations - makes no difference

Where are you located Marion? I think a lot of us Europeans have been having severe connection problems. My GF Linda is in the UK and has not been able to log in for over 2 weeks. The problem is with her ISP. Afraid I'm not technical, but it is to do with too long a ping time (does that make sense??) or something. Her ISP sent someone out, as did BT and they ran some tests, but they still haven't fixed it. Have you spoken to your ISP?

Have you tried increasing or deacreasing you maximum bandwidth in preferences?

I was having problems until I increased mine.
It doesnt seem to make sense that increasing it would have fixed my problem but this is SL.

You must adjust the security bit rate (strength) in both your Mac and the Router, otherwise they will not 'talk' to eachother. Unfortunately I can't tell you how to do each one, because I don't know which router you are using, nor do I use a Mac.

Also while in the router system (normally a HTML page), check to see that you are not 'throttling' the connection to the wireless connection. Some manufacturers set a limitation as a default.

As a resonable 'standard' adjust the bandwidth in SL preferences (network tab) to 2/3rds of your total connection bandwidth (1mb=660kbps). This leaves enough bandwidth for music streams and SL rarely uses above 500kbps except in spurts.

Have you tried loggin in with an alt (make a freebie one to try this) and actually go look to see if you can see your avatar still in game? If it is, get the land owner to eject it from the sim, that will cause a reset of your avatar/account to rez in another sim and let you logout fully, so you can get back ingame. Your only alternative if this persists, is to contact LL and have them manually reset your account.

AWM and others - thanks for the helpful suggestions and ideas - I shall try them out when I get home. I hadn't thought of trying an alt, as I sort of assumed that the problem was logging in, not whether my avatar was incorrectly logged out, although come to think of it, the system has crashed on logging out a couple of times recently. I will also speak to the ISP and the router manufacturer (NetGear) then see how it goes *sigh*