Can no longer access SL!!!

[Blu Cazalet]

Hi,

I am on a Dell laptop computer, running Windows 7. I have never really had any problem logging onto SL using either the SL Viewer or Firestorm, until last night. Suddenly, I can no longer log on. Both viewers get stuck at Initializing VFS and sit there until I finally have to go into my task manager to end the process. I have tried over and over. I even turned off my virus software (Avast) to see if that would make any difference. It doesn't. Can anyone help me out there?

Thanks,

Blu

[Kelli May]

I've no idea of the efficacy of this solution, but other people have had the issue and solved it this way:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Technical/VFS-initialization-error-continues/qaq-p/1591381

Again, I haven't read through the post other than to determine that they found a fix. 

[Blu Cazalet]

Thank you for the link. However, I am not what you would call a tech head. lol. Most (if not all) of the explainations on there are so far above my head that I cannot even see them. Can ANYONE break it down for me in minute baby steps? Apparently I cannot access SL at all anymore. I even uninstalled and reinstalled Firestorm to see if that would work...same problem. Sigh.

 

Thanks, 

Blu

[KarenMichelle Lane]

First, try a rollback of your Windows 7 system to lets say the Saturday Checkpoint.....

Then test again to see if that resolves the issue.

Please update your question with the results as follows:  Select the Options drop-down menu to the right of your question and select Edit Question.

[Heieie]

Hello,

I am new to Second Life. I joined because I have to do a project on the effects of online gaming. I have to interview two people who play the game a lot and know a lot about it. If any of you are interested please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Mariah

[Dillon Levenque]

---

Kelli May wrote:

I've no idea of the efficacy of this solution, but other people have had the issue and solved it this way:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Technical/VFS-initialization-error-continues/qaq-p/1591381

Again, I haven't read through the post other than to determine that they found a fix. 

---

 

Wow, what a cool Answers thread!. It is SO nice when the asker takes the time to come back and post the remedy, once they finally find it.

Blu, the remedy in this person's case was removing some video drivers that were left over from a previously installed graphics adaptor. If you have changed your video card it might apply to you, but I'm guessing that's not the case.

[Syo Emerald]

---

Heieie wrote:

Hello,

I am new to Second Life. I joined because I have to do a project on the effects of online gaming. I have to interview two people who play the game a lot and know a lot about it. If any of you are interested please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Mariah

---

Second Life is not a game. Anything written and researched about "online games" can't be used for SL without huge difficulties. And if you don't know a single thing about Second Life, how can you do your homework about it? It won't turn out good, I think. Also why didn't you make your own thread instead of using this one, which is totally unrelated?

[Pussycat Catnap]

---

Heieie wrote:

Hello,

---

Hey;

Did you know bamboo plates and utensils are much more recycleable than paper plates and plastic utensils, and often nearly as cheap? Plus you can get more sturdy bamboo utensils to replace regular metal ones.

 

/whatsthatgottodowithanythingIdunno

[rockerX0X0X]

Reinstall your viewers and if that doesn't work see if sl works on another user account on the computer and if that doesnt work don't know then good luck!

[Blu Cazalet]

I have uninstalled/reinstalled both the SL viewer and Firestorm. My son went into my computer and uninstalled anything related to SL and Firestorm as well. Didn't fix the problem at all. I have not changed my graphics or video card, nothing. I wonder if my virus protection is blocking it somehow. I have Avast. I turned it off to try, but that changed nothing. I even did a rollback to see if that would work. Nope. It still gets locked up at VPS. Anyone else have any other suggestions to try? This is really driving me crazy, and trust me, it's a short drive! lol

HELP!!!

Blu

[Phil Deakins]

If I'm not mistaken, VPS is the voice system, so you could try editing your Preferences before you try to log in, and turn voice off. With a bit of luck you might get in but without the voice option.

[Perrie Juran]

---

Phil Deakins wrote:

If I'm not mistaken, VPS is the voice system, so you could try editing your Preferences before you try to log in, and turn voice off. With a bit of luck you might get in but without the voice option.

---

It's VFS, "Virtual File Sytem" if I'm not mistaken.  Nothing to do with voice.

 

ETA, add link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_file_system

[Drake1 Nightfire]

i found the answer HERE.

i will also post what i found for the lazies..

Firestorm "Locks Up" on "Initializing VFS"

If this occurs, chance are good that the inventory cache is corrupt. Deleting it should solve the problem.

• Locate your cache folder. You will probably need to do this manually, if you are unable to log in. Use a file manager (like Windows Explorer for Windows system, Dolphin, or some such) to locate the cache folder. In its default location, the cache folder is hidden on most OSs. To find it, you will need to show hidden folders. Default cache locations are:
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[uSERNAME]\Local Settings\Application Data\Firestorm
  • Windows Vista: C:\Users\[uSERNAME]\AppData\Local\Firestorm
  • Windows 7: C:\Users\[uSERNAME]\AppData\Local\Firestorm
  • Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firestorm
  • linux: ~/.firestorm/cache
• In this folder, locate the files named data.db2.x.* and index.db2.x.* (where * is a digit: 0, 1, 2, etc; you may have more than one of each type of file)
• Delete all files that match these two names.
• Log back into SL, to a quiet region (try Hippo Hollow, Aich or Hatton). Allow your inventory to repopulate fully.

Windows only: If the above doesn't work, then click the speaker icon in the system tray, then touch the volume slider, just enough to change the volume slightly. It may be that the Windows sound system has stalled; this should “give it a kick”.

If the above fails, then try doing a full wipe of all settings.

[Phil Deakins]

Oh, pity

[Czari Zenovka]

Hi Blu

Don't know if you're still having this issue but my suggestion is to try the Singularity Viewer.  Its interface is very similar to the "Old School" 1.x viewers (which is one reason I LOVE it!) or, more recently, it is almost identical to the original Phoenix viewer (which I also loved before it was discontinued). 

The reason I recommend giving this a try is that it is a "lighter" viewer in terms of the demands it puts on your PC; also, I have had friends who were having crashing problems and other issues with Firestorm and did not have the same issues with Singularity.  If you can use this viewer, then you will at least have ruled out anything wrong with your PC/files, etc.  If this viewer won't run either then it's something much deeper.

I hope you're either back in SL by now, or will be real soon!

[KarenMichelle Lane]

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Blu Cazalet wrote:

I have uninstalled/reinstalled both the SL viewer and Firestorm. My son went into my computer and uninstalled anything related to SL and Firestorm as well. Didn't fix the problem at all. I have not changed my graphics or video card, nothing. I wonder if my virus protection is blocking it somehow. I have Avast. I turned it off to try, but that changed nothing. I even did a rollback to see if that would work. Nope. It still gets locked up at VPS. Anyone else have any other suggestions to try? This is really driving me crazy, and trust me, it's a short drive! lol

HELP!!!

Blu

---

OK - Some obscure things that will play havoc with your VFS [Virtual File System] Initialization.

~~~~~~~

1) You had a virus or Trojan Horse earlier that fooled with your OS's ability to create and update files in the appData caching area of your PC Login Account. To test for this, create a new PC Login account and try the install of the SL viewer under that account and try to login. If this works then repair your PC as follows:

a) Download from BleepingComputer.com - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/dl/125/ - This is ADWCleaner and is will find any leftover reminants of this kind of Trojan Horse.

b) [Optional] If ADWCleaner found a number of issues then also Download from BleepingComputer.com - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/superantispyware/dl/106/  - SuperAntiSpyware Free and runa full scan under each affected PC Login Account.

c) Download from BleepingComputer.com - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/windows-repair-all-in-one/dl/250/ - This is Windows Repair [All inOne] and it will repair the file permissions for your PC if they have been damaged by this kind of infection.

 

~~~~~~~

2) Did you [increase] your UAC setting above normal? If yes, please set back to it's Default Setting - Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\User Accounts\Change User Account Control settings.

 

~~~~~~~

3) Some AMD/ATI Graphics Chip sets are very sensitive to the driver software installed and certain Microsoft Approved updates can cause this issue in very extreme cases.

a) Identify the Video / Graphics system in your PC and get the Windows 8 drivers direct from the Video System manufacturer.

 

.... http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

 

.... http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

 

.... http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/graphics

 

b) If you just performed the items a) above, please reinstall SL again using the official version from Linden Lab. [be sure to do a clean install

 

.... http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/How-to-uninstall-and-reinstall-Second-Life/ta-p/1375231

 

Here is the Windows 8 Manual System File cleanup procedure since it's not in the procedure above.

 

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

 

.... 1) Open C:\Users\(PC Login Name)\AppData\Local and delete the contents of the SecondLife folder.

.... 2) Open C:\Users\(PC Login Name)\AppData\Roaming and delete the contents of the SecondLife folder.

.... 3) Uninstall Second Life using the Programs and Features tool in the Windows Control Panel.

.... 4) Download and install the latest release of the Second Life Viewer from http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/.

 

 

 

That all I have on this issue for now.