Blank screen at SL Viewer launch UNSOLVED

[Nelphy]

1) I downloaded the SL viewer: http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/

2) I installed SL viewer in an empty directory.

3) I launched the viewer which informs me its checking my system performance etc. Then it loads a plain white bordered window which fills my screen. I waited a couple of minutes or so to no avail.

4) I installed the latest version of my graphics driver which had no effect. It still launched to the same blank white screen in the same way

5) I disabled my standard windows firewall and Microsoft security essentials real time protection at the same time and launched the program to again have no effect.

6) I beat my fist against my desk, also no effect.

 

system info:

Mainboard :       Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3

Chipset :              Intel Z68

Processor :          Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3300 MHz

Physical Memory :           8192  MB (4 x 2048 DDR3-SDRAM )

Video Card :       ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series

Hard Disk :           Corsair Force 3 SSD ATA Device (90GB)

Hard Disk :           SAMSUNG HD502HJ ATA Device (500GB)

Hard Disk :           Western Digital WD15EADS-00S2B0 ATA Device (1500GB)

CD-Rom Drive : DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device

DVD-Rom Drive :              Toshiba-Samsung CDDVDW SH-S223L

Monitor Type :  Samsung SAMSUNG - 40 inches

Monitor Type :  HannsStar HF237 - 23 inches

Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Operating System :         Windows 7 Professional Professional Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

DirectX :               Version 11.00

My router: BT home hub 2

Other programs running: Steam, VLC, Daemon tools pro, Skype, Fire Fox

 

@ Lindal Kidd - It was installed in my games folder on my 1.5 TB drive so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it to my Windows SSD in the default directory you stated.

In my case currently

E:\Program Files (x86)\SecondLifeViewer

 

@ Nalates Urriah - everything I am running is very standard for a desktop PC from the standard legit W7 64 bit install to the drivers and peripherals. My graphics card has worked flawlessly on hundreds of games and as far as I can see will continue to. Here is as much info as I can find on the graphics driver which is.

The AMD software you need to install the driver (the driver is not available as a separate file):

Catalyst Software Suite with .NET 4 Support (Size) 184 MB (revision number) 12.10 (release date) 10/22/2012

The driver info itself from device manager once installed:

Release date: 27/09/2012

Version number: 9.2.0.0

 

@ Peggy Paperdoll - You have raised some interesting points. The screen was completely blank white until minimised and maximised where it would turn black. When I said "bordered window" I was referring only that the program runs in a windows border window; there was never anything I could see inside it. When I drag my mouse across the blank page I can tell there are text fields there because the mouse curser will change to the "I" type shape in places.

After you mention that it might have been unable to download the login screen from the server I did change my default browser to Fire Fox, chrome and Internet explorer in turn each to have exactly no effect. I even tried downloading "Phoenix Viewer" an alternate SL viewer to have to have the same effect.

This leaves me to believe that I need to forward some ports on my router. And after googling it I found:

Port       Protocol               Used For

53           UDP and TCP      DNS lookup

80           TCP        Second Life web resources

443         TCP        Second Life web resources/client authentication

3478       UDP       Voice/STUN traffic

3479       UDP       Voice/STUN traffic

5060       UDP       Voice/SIP traffic

5062       UDP       Voice/SIP traffic

12000-29999       UDP       Voice/RTP traffic/Core protocol communication ** (see note below)

12043    UDP and TCP      Capabilities/map services/simulator communication

12046    TCP        Texture downloading

21002    TCP        Voice signalling

Notes:

• RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol
• SIP: Session Initiation Protocol
• ** Voice used to only require ports 12000-17000 UDP while Second Life needed 13000-13050 UDP. This combined range satisfies both requirements for UDP traffic.

 

Thanks for all your help so far; I tried forwarding the ports stated above to again no effect. I even removed my other port profiles for various other application that required port forwarding to work in case there was a clash. All this to still no effect; rather shocking rly as some people even pay a subscription fee towards it. My best guess is it must still be router related, but I have no idea what.

My router is a: BT home hub 2

[Lindal Kidd]

When you installed the viewer, did you install to the C:\Programs (x86) directory?

 

[Nalates Urriah]

It looks like your computer should run SL. 

That you are getting a black screen indicates a video problem. So, let's do the basics.

First, you need to understand and take it into the core of your beleif system that using the term "the latest driver" means abosilutely nothing to those of us helping you.

Next: When you ask a tech question here get the info from the viewer's Help-About... and paste that into your post with your question. Help->About... provides all the version numbers and OS details we need. If you are using #D Vision or other non-typical screen setups let us know.

Where you install should make little or not difference. The key word here is SHOULD. 

I suggest you remove and reinstall in the default location. When it works we will have found the problem. Then you can move it. But, working with none standard installs just adds more confusion. Keep simplifying until you find the problem.

I can't tell for certain if you have a desktop or a laptop. Normally the output from Help->About... would give me the indicators I need. If it is a laptop check the video driver controls to see if the settings are for Performance. If it is set to save battery, the video chip may actually be turned off, which would be a problem.

You may have to create a video configuration for Second Life in the card's control panel. I'm not an ATI user so I can't tell you how to do that. Search for your card here and on SLUniverse for others using the card. They may help you or already have posted the details.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

I'm going to take a stab at this.  First I think Nalates misread your post (or maybe I'm misreading it.........I could be wrong).  As I understand it you are launching the viewer and getting a blank screen.  A blank screen could be a black screen but you did not say that.......you said "blank".  Every time I've seen a "blank" screen it's be a white screen.......all white with nothing else.  You also mentioned that you had a border around the blank screen.  Those two tidbits of information give me the impression that your viewer has successfully launched but the log in screen has not been retrieved from the SL servers.  The log in screen is just a web page that the viewer calls up for you to log into SL.  It seems you are not getting that log in screen so that you can log in.  That could mean that you have a browser problem..........the web browser you use by default (be it IE, Firefox, Chrome or any other browser) is just not getting the information from the servers.  Try using a different browser.........such as Chrome or Firefox if you are using IE (remember to make it the default so that the viewer will use it instead of what is currently associated).

Another thing you didn't mention is if you have any menus available when you get the "blank" screen.  You said you have a border so I'm wondering if in that border you have a "Me" menu, "Help" menu, and "Debug" menu.  Those menus are shown on the log screen at the top left of the screen (in that "border").  If you do have those menus, click on the "Me" menu and on the "Setup" tab you'll see a choice to use either your external browser (IE, Chrome, Firefox, ect) or the internal browser (the built-in browser for the viewer).  Which ever is checked change it and try to launch SL again.  You do not have to log in to make that change.  And while you are at it click on the "Help" menu and then "About Second Life".  You'll see the basic computer specs that the viewer reports to the servers......copy and paste those back here (that is what Nalates was asking for from you).

I doubt the installation location for SL makes any difference.  I'm sure your Win7 installation is on the SSD which will take most of the available storage space.......you may not even have room on that drive for SL.  I have SL on drive D on my other computer and it works just fine.