Indigo Mistwalker

Does anyone know if I have to recreate my avatar if I haven't been in SL for a long time?I now have the new viewer and s/w installed, but my avatar is a misty cloud. I've read and read and tried all the suggestions, but nothing has helped. I even had my ISP come to my house this morning and all is well with my connection. That was my last thing to try... I hadn't logged in to SL for 4 years, but my account was still there. Do I need to create a new avatar? This didn't seem right, though. When all my inventory was saved for all this time, shouldn't my avatar have also been saved? I don't want to create a new avatar until I hear back from someone, because I don't to take a chance and lose my original avatar if she's still there. This has been going on for 1 week now!, and I've been trying to participate in an annual event that's now almost over... Please help, Thanks!

I now have the new viewer, but my avatar is a misty cloud. I've read and read and tried all the suggestions, but nothing has helped. I even had my ISP come to my house this morning and all is well with my connection. That was my last thing to try... I hadn't logged in to SL for 4 years, but my account was still there. Do I need to create a new avatar? This didn't seem right, when all my inventory was saved for all this time, so my avatar should have also been saved - right? I don't want to create a new avatar until I hear back from someone, because I don't to take a chance and lose my original avatar if she's still there. I've been trying to participate in an annual event that's now almost over.... Please help!