How do you fix a problem?

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Peggy's bored sitting here watching "Criminal Minds" re-runs on ION TV.  I've been reading the forums (nothing unusual about that), mostly on the subjects that interest me the most.  I've even posted a couple times tonight.  Anyway, I've been noticing an increase in the number of people who can't seem to get SL to work.  There's always threads about problems connecting and/or staying connected to SL but the last few days (maybe a couple weeks) it seems to me that there's a somewhat substantial increase in the number of those threads.  If the poster gives enough information in the post(s) the chances are pretty good that someone here can help the person resolve the problem.  I certainly try and so do a number of others.  The trouble is, though, that most people don't give any information when they have a problem.  I mean, how is anyone supposed to be able to help them if all they say is "I can't log in.  My computer is new and I could log in with my old computer.  What do I need to do?"  It's a guessing game to try to figure out so, for the most part, I've started ignoring those threads.....and I wind up feeling bad about doing that.

This all got me to thinking about why some of us never seem to have problems when other seem to always have problems.  First, I can only speak for myself but I do occasionally have problems with SL.  Just the other day I hooked up another computer (one I inherited from a good friend who decided she wanted a laptop and gave me the computer I put together for her about 2 or 2 1/2 years ago......I know what's in it because I put the thing together for her).  I connected the computer to a KVM switch so that I could use my monitor, keyboard and mouse on both computers...my friend decided on the laptop because her monitor died on her (I just got her computer and nothing else).  I wiped her drive and installed my old Vista Home Premium operating system on it (it's a full version legal and all straight from Microsoft).  That computer has no discrete video card and uses the on board Intel GMA 945 chipset (my friend said she was going to get a card herself when I built the computer for her.......she never did though).  It has a Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU at 2.8 gigs.......not a new CPU but plenty of muscle for most things I need a computer for.  4 gigs DDR3 RAM.  A 500 gig Western Digital 7200 rpm hard drive.  It's connected to the Internet via my router and tests out at the same speed as my main computer......27 Mbps down and .99 Mbps up (a cable 30 Mbps connection with Time Warner Cable).  By today's standards the computer I just got would be about mid range for desktops........you could probably buy a new computer spec'd about the same for $400 USD. 

Okay, here's the problem I had the other day.  I knew the GMA 945 IGP was not going to run the new Viewer 3 so I downloaded and installed 1.23.  I logged in with no problems at all.  I was getting 40 to 50 FPS at my sky platform where with my main computer I would get 90 FPS plus.  I was pleasantly impressed.......I mean this is a GMA 945 for heaven's sake.!!  I TP'd to the ground to wander around with the statistic bar up to watch how my FPS changed and how much lag I experienced.  Not too bad......15 to 25 FPS where my main got 20 to 35 FPS (again, I was pleasantly impressed).  The lag was not bad at all......but then I tolerant lag more than most I guess (unless it's really bad I can live with it...chat lag is another story though).  Anyway, I played for about an hour thinking to myself "why do people have so many problems with low spec'd computers?" The computer is not exactly low spec'd per se.....but the graphics sure are near the bottom of any spec sheet.  I couldn't have my graphics in preferences very high but I could see water reflections and I set my draw distance to 128 meters.  Terrain detail was low, sky is low but avatar detail was about mid range.  All very acceptable graphics.  There is nothing special I've done with the computer.....basically installed the OS, got all the Windows updates (that took almost 4 hours!!), put Comodo Security Suite on it, turned off all that Aero Glass BS, set my power settings to my liking and that's just about it.  Pretty much what I do with all my computers.  All this surprising (to me) performance I was getting that I never expected led me to think that maybe I could run Viewer 2 or Viewer 3.  So I downloaded V-3 and installed it.......it didn't work.  I was a little disappointed so I tried tweaking the settings in the viewer and kept trying.  I gave up after about 5 or 6 attempts and uninstalled it.  Then I tried to log in using 1.23.........hmmmm, not good since it was giving me the same error message and refusing to load.  Now I'm having problems just like people posting on the forums.  I know the GMA will work with 1.23 and I know the computer will run run SL.  But suddenly it quit working on me......what did I do?

What I did was what I often tell people not to do......I didn't move one of the caches to a different location on the computer.  When I was trying to log in with 1.23 the viewer was reporting to the server the setup for V-3....it was my cache that was borked.  I tried the easy way and simply cleared the cache...no work.  Manually deleted the cache...no work.  Head scratching for a while then I decided to do a clean installation of the 1.23 viewer.  The search of my drive gave me a total of 6 files left over between the two viewers.......I manually deleted them, reinstalled the viewer and it worked.

I don't know why I'm boring you guys with my story......I guess I want to spread the boredom around this evening.  Anyway, anyone else have a story to tell?  I mean how you got a problem solved with SL.  Who knows, it just might help someone who is having problems.  It's nothing magic about getting SL to run....even on a very low graphic spec'd machine.  But if you don't know then you need help.  And I hope someone who might have a similar problem can get some ideas from what I did just the other day.  I like a challenge so maybe that's why problems don't really upset me....that little problem gave me something to do for an hour or so (and I won so I was happy).

[Charolotte Caxton]

Wow, Peggy. 

I hardly ever have problems on my computer, when I do, I use all the fixes I've read about in the answers section, while Im reading, if I encounter a problem that someone else is having that I had and got answered in the answers section, I will answer them. Sometimes I feel like a search engine

Anyways, usually what solves most problems for me is, in ascending order:

1. Log out

2. Unplug your modem thingy (it may be a router, the black box through which the internet runs)

3. Viewer cache clear

4. Manual Cache Clear

5. Reinstall

I do each step individually. If 1 doesn't work, I go to 2. If 1 and 2 don't work, I go to 3 etc.

5 is very rarely, as in your case if I have just downloaded a conflicting viewer or a major viewer update. 

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

 

 

 You know, Miss Sherlock Peggy Holmes, that you now have to answer ALL those questions when they are asked on these forums, right?  You boredom benefited us all and I enjoyed reading your journey of discovery.  It is always a good feeling when you find a solution to a problem, especially if it was hard won.  You deserve a nice slice of pie and a warm cup of coffee.  Well done!

Cinn

 

 Edited to fix a really bad spelling error

Edited again - oh for crying out loud - I can't spell - must be bedtime

 

[Peggy Paperdoll]

My "problem" really wasn't so much a problem.....it was more a simple brain f**t.    I know how caches of various viewers interact and I know the solution (or prevention is probably the better word).  I just didn't follow my own advice.  I wasn't exactly in a snit over the "problem" but it surprsed the heck out of me.  Until I saw how many files were left after the uninstall....if memory serves correctly there is usually only 2 or 3 files left after you uninstall a viewer (I had 6..........that jerked my brain awake).  :smileyvery-happy:

 

I almost never have problems anymore........I used to have a bunch back in the days of running SL as if it were some low level video game.  Not to mention a flakey Internet connection of a crappy D-link router.  That's why I surprised to suddenly find a "problem".  One of my own making to boot.  :smileysurprised:

[Pussycat Catnap]

[Charolotte Caxton]

Oh no! Someone get a vet, quick! Or doctor!..or some kind of neko medicine person! Stat!

(right click the text texture, choose edit and it will rez quicker, or at least by the time you do all that, it will rez on its own )

[Charolotte Caxton]

Or is that media on a prim? How do you get it so there's no scrolly bar at the bottom?

[Pussycat Catnap]

Heh. Photoshop'd a screencap of the post onto a screenshot of SL, used skew to shape it right to the white prim I'd put in front of the wall. Blurred it to avoid a ToS issue...

 It fixed the problem of my boredom.

 

[Charolotte Caxton]

Hahaha

[BothamFidor]

L'enfer, c'est les autres.