why am i a cloud

[moonlight Mellow]

when i log on most days now i am a cloud and most of my settings dont work ..

all i can do after every time i log off is clear my entire sl settings from my computer to be able to log in as normal 

its horribleas i have to do this at least 3 times a day 

why is this happening b

[valerie Inshan]

From the Phoenix KB (but applies to all viewers):

Sometimes, when you log in, you will find yourself as a cloud, or ruthed. Or it may be that if you change clothes, they do not appear on you. This occurs as a result of a lack of communication between your computer and the SL severs.

A brief explanation. When you wear (non prim) clothing, the clothing textures are sent from SL server to your computer. There, the viewer layers the clothing textures onto your skin textures (a process known as baking) and then send the resultant textures back to the SL servers. The servers then send these textures to other avatars that might be in the region. If any one of these things don't work properly, the result is commonly called a bake fail; bake fails are what can leave your avatar looking like a cloud, or ruthed, or your clothing not visually changing when you change outfit.

Please see the fixes in this link:

http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=bake_fail

[Trix Braveheart]

There is also an excellent blog post here

http://nalates.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/avatar-render-problems-ghost-cloud-smoke-ball-ruth/

It doesn't mention an issue that currently exists with wearing two or more tattoos. The tattoo issue is intermittent and you can go days even weeks without it being a problem, then one day you just don't rezz for others...then when you try to correct that with a relog, you often don't rezz for yourself.

Once you've corrected your current issue, it is recommended that you store a copy of your avatar in your outfits folder (if you haven't already). Switching to that avatar often solves the issue ...btw it does not solve the tattoo issue. That one you solve by simply taking them off and wearing them again (no relog required).