My avatar's shape and skin won't load. I have tried everything..

[Zio Starostin]

My avatar's shape and skin won't load. I have deleted the external and internal cache, uninstalled and reinstalled SL, tried other viewers, disabled my anti-virus, tried loading the default avatars, did the renderunloadedavatar trick, rebaked a million times, updated graphics card, and searched every help site there is. No answers. 

 

Edit: I have established it is not ram or my internet connection. My alt's account has no issues whatsoever.

[Rolig Loon]

For what it's worth, the RenderUnloadedAvatar business is worthless.  It does exactly what it says ... it shows you the avatar, even if it's not ready to be rendered.  It won't fix a thing.

Anyway .... Since you have apparently tried many standard methods and they clearly are not curing the symptom, you have a deeper communication problem between your computer and SL's servers. If you find that the bake fail problem comes back repeatedly, or is not fixed at all with one of the suggestions at http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=fs_bake_fail , you have a chronically weak Internet connection. There are many steps to take for repairing it. Perhaps the simplest ones -- ones that work best for most people -- are: (1) Don't Use WIRELESS. Wireless connections are inherently less stable than direct cable connections and are more vulnerable to interference. Then, (2) Reboot your router. Unplug it from the power for a few minutes to let it clear its RAM. Then plug it back in and let it get a fresh hold on an IP address.  If those simple steps do not work, I recommend a careful reading of Nalates's blog on this topic >>> http://blog.nalates.net/2011/10/26/troubleshoot-your-sl-connection/

[FlashBye Muggins]

I have the same problem again I can login using another account and that works fine so its nothing to do with internet connection. In SL veiwer Im just a ball of smoke to me and other users and in Phoenix I get a default avator but again Im just a ball of smoke to others. It seem to be a problem effecting just this account.

[Rolig Loon]

Bake fail problems are always the result of poor communication between your own viewer and SL's servers.  Changes to your avatar's appearance are made at the local level, on your own computer.  The various textures that comprise your skin and clothing are "baked" into a single composite texture that must then be uploaded to the servers so that they are viewable in world and can be downloaded to other people's viewers.  Files are uploaded in four steps of increasing resolution. You don't see a final, clean texture until all four steps are complete. If they are interrupted along the way, the servers get garbage.  In the old days, they used to display a default avatar, Ruth, when that happened.  Today, they display a fluffy cloud.

It's not easy to figure out where the files get borked along the way, but the most common weak spot is right at your own computer, its router, its cables, and its modem.  If a connection is weak but borderline, it may work fine one day and not the next.  Or it may handle some files well but not others.  The difference may depend on something as simple as whatever else the computer is doing at the time, possibly using enough bandwidth to interfere with the upload.  That's one of the reasons we generally recommend that people stay away from wireless connections, which are easily compromised.

Unfortunately, all we can do is guess at what's wrong in the connection. We are SL residents like you, not Lindens.  We can tell you where the diagnostic tools are, and that's about it.  We can also point you to any number of JIRAs, like this one >>> https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SH-744 , that report on all the various forms of bake fail.  I encourage you to read through those and look for clues that might help your own situation, and to add your own observations if you think they will help Linden Lab technicians find ways to handle damaged files better.

[FlashBye Muggins]

Fix it using Phoenix Viewer ... Click Phoenix table ... click show advanced ... Select Character<Character Test<Test Male this resets the avator to default av (so all skins and shapes removed) then I right clicked the smoke ball and selected "Take off" then detached all.... and then selected clothes<more<all clothes ..... The after a few mins my av appeared and worked fine.

In the SL viewer I was still a ball of smoke but on the ME tab and Choose an avator I now had the options to choose one so I did that and my AV appeared and is now working fine in both viewers.

I can only guess that there must have been a skin or shape problem and removing them has fixed it.:smileyvery-happy: