Crashing on moving

I wonder if you any of you folks can help me?

I run SL on a desktop and a laptop. Recently (over the last couple of releases) I've noticed that sometimes when I walk or fly (or move in whatever manner) in SL my laptop crashes. Not just SL - the whole thing goes. I used to reboot and carry on for a bit but now it seems to happen almost all the time.

Laptop is an IBM Thinkpad T42 running XP.

When forced to use the laptop I'm now reduced to TPing from place to place, standing still and just chatting to people. Kinda makes having a 3D world to explore pointless...
Interestingly I can use camera controls to zoom, change my viewpoint, etc. without any problems.
I tried Nicholaz's alternative viewer but still have the same problems.

Anyone else experienced anything like this?

Is this my graphics card?
Are there any viewer preferences I could change to fix this?

Thanks

Does your laptop have an integrated graphics card? I don't think SL runs particularly well on many laptops for that reason.

You're not alone - one of my friends was forced to buy a desktop after the last update because her laptop was no longer able to run the Client. Well, not exactly forced (the Lindens didn't send the heavy mob round), she could have given up SL. LOL

Hope this has been of some help.

I don't know about laptops but Nicholaz' viewer has totally fixed the problem I was having with constant SL crashes.

http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/2007/06/release-day-nicholaz-edition-17a.html

Go to downloads and get:

nicholaz-17e.zip

Then just follow the installation instructions.

I hope this helps. I know how frustrating all those mystery crashes are.

Some specs may prove useful... but to be honest.... Laptops + SL = issues.

I run 4 PC's over my network (for various reasons)... when I load SL onto one, I have to baste one side of the leg nearest that PC as my CC pumps out heat (Yep nVidia 7900GT with all the eyecandy turnned on full, 50+ fps), yet I can run several clients for other 'games' without even breaking into a sweat.

Heat buildup, along with a wireless connection? Maybe your limiting factors.

Thanks for your quick responses folks.

Graphics card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600.

Apple - Yes I've tried the latest version 17.e and it certainly is more stable - until I move....

I think I'll try upgrading the ATI driver - just wanted to check I wasn't missing any other easier tweaks (like reducing draw distance or something)

The ATI 9600 is quite low spec, then when you add 'modility' to the equation, it gets even lower. This is a low voltage version of the 9600 and considerably more underpowered. If I am not mistaken, it also uses system ram which again is much slower that dedicated ram.

Hmm - Thanks AWM.

Time to ask my boss for a new laptop I think. Need to think of a good business reason for having the best graphics card possible...