Viewer Crashes when attempting to Login or Change Apperance

[Divinefirewolf]

This is by far the bizarrest problem I've ever encountered on SL

Whenever I try to login to SL, I ether am unable to login and the viewer crashes when trying to load up, or I am able to login, but I have no avatar visable and if I try to check my Inventory or try to change my Apperance, it crashes. And if I try to just wait for my avatar to load, after about 5-10 minutes, it crashes.

I've tried clearing my Cache, uninstalling and deleating every SL file and reinstalling and even tried changing my preferances. I tried going on to different areas and that just made it crash on attempted connection. I'm completly lost as to what else I could do and my knowlage of computers is very limited, so I have no clue what caused this to happen.

SL has always worked on my computer, so there shouldn't be a hardware problem. But I'll post my hardware overview if it can help:

Model: Macbook Pro running Mac OS X 10.6.8

Processor: Intel Core i7@ 2 GHz

Graphics: Intel HD graphics 3000,  AMD Radeon HD 6490M

I'm using SL Viewer 3.3.3 and it comes up normally. I tried using Firestorm, but that had the same problem.

 

Hopefully, I put up all the information needed to help, but if you need more, just ask. Thank you in advanced to anyone that can help.

 

 

[Marigold Devin]

Welcome to Second Life Forums, Divinefirewolf

It's not an unusual problem that you're encountering.  It might be simply because your graphics card is needing the updated drivers.  Pop across to the website for your type of graphics card and you will be able to pick up the latest free driver download.

As you've gone through the cache clearing procedure, another suggestion is, are you perhaps overheating?  When did you last clean out the inside of your computer with a good blast of air spray? 

Also, unfortunately, graphics cards don't live forever and Second Life is quite a heavy load.  This might be happening due to wear and tear.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

I'm of two minds here.  First is that you are actually crashing (and not simply getting disconnected from the servers).  Your graphics (the Intel HD 3000 graphics accellerator intergrated into the the i7 CPU) is marginal at best.  That graphics adapter is for basic graphics you might encounter web surfing or using business applications......it is not designed for 3D graphics (though it will render 3D, just not very well).  It sounds like the graphics adapter is struggling and eventually gets so far behind the rendering requirements that SL to throwing at it that it just crashes.  Another, more serious, potential problem is that the on CPU graphics chipset is overheating and then crashing (a problem there is that the graphics is intergrated into the CPU chipset.....you would be in very real danger of burning the CPU in your computer (without a CPU your computer is useless....that is the heart and brain of any computer).  I would look for a TPV that is based on the older SL 1.23 viewer code.  All the recent SL viewers put much more demand on graphics with all the new stuff added to SL (mesh, and things like that).  Lower end computers with low end graphics (though your computer is not low end, your graphics are) just aren't really capable of running the newer viewers with much success.  That's the price of progress........you need a better GPU (discrete graphics card).

The other possibility (which I touched on) is that you are not crashing at all but getting disconnected from the servers.  That is almost always caused by something in your network (your home network, your ISP or somthing in between the two).  The only thing you can fix yourself is your network.  The two devices that most home networks have that will often cause slow or sparadic connection to the Internet are your modem and your router.  Most modems and routers have small memory leaks that build up over time.  The way to dump all that memory and start over is rebooting them (just like us Windows users who keep our machines running 24/7 have to do occassionally.........I'm pretty Macs do too but I don't want to start a Mac vs Windows war ).  You reboot the two devices by unplugging them from their electrical source for 3 to 5 minutes then plugging them back in.  It's usually a good idea to go ahead and reboot your computer too......that re-establishes a good and solid connection to the Internet.  If that was your problem then you're all fixed (it's probably about 50 - 50 if that was the problem).  It's simple to do and that's why I suggest doing it before you start digging for more complex problems.  I hope this is all you are up against because if you are overheating that could be a huge problem (and could get expensive if you burn up the CPU).

[Morning Valeeva]

Hello DivingFireWolf,

Thank you for your help....i will try cleaning the inside of the pc...this does not happen when i am using Firestorm....

What are the white things that look like sheets of paper?

 

Morning

[Morning Valeeva]

Hello Peggy Paperdoll,

Thank you for your time and expertise....i understood some of it...this does not happen with firestorm...

 

Morning

 

[Divinefirewolf]

Thank you guys for the help. As it turns out, Peggy Paperdoll was right with my graphics card. it's too weak to handle SL's recent viewer, but it can handle the Imprudence viewer just fine.

 

One last question, though. Are there any other viewers like Imprudence out there that run on earlier models of SL viewers? I really hate the set up of this viewer and I'd like another option. >.>

[Marigold Devin]

Yes, Peggy sure knows her stuff, and is very thorough. :matte-motes-smile:

Have a browse of the approved third party viewer directory ...

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory

I'm currently using Phoenix, which runs based on old SL viewer code, but everyone has a different preference.  Runs pretty good on this old boat of mine.



[Marigold Devin]

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Morning Valeeva wrote:

Hello DivingFireWolf,

Thank you for your help....i will try cleaning the inside of the pc...this does not happen when i am using Firestorm....

What are the white things that look like sheets of paper?

 

Morning

---

Good morning, Morning :matte-motes-smile:

I really don't know what those white things are that look like sheets of paper.  I would guess it's linked to your graphics display, but it would only be a guess.  Any chance of uploading a screenshot to show us?

[Divinefirewolf]

Thank you for the list Marigold Devin, and thanks again everyone for the help!

[Marigold Devin]

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Divinefirewolf wrote:

Thank you for the list Marigold Devin, and thanks again everyone for the help!

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And thank YOU for returning to your thread to give us updates.  We hope to see you here often, in one capacity or another. :smileyhappy: