[How can I make sure I stay out of trouble in Second Life?]

I don't want to get into any trouble.  Any tips?

[I forgot my password. What can I do?]

I need some help.  I forgot my password.

[How can I change my account details?]

I want to change some account details such as:  country

[How do I cancel my account?]

I need to cancel my account. Where can I do that?

[I paid US$ for something, but the system doesn't seem to know it yet.]

Why doesn't the system know I paid? 

[I was participating in a large event that was violently disrupted by griefers. What should I do in a situation like that?]

Any tips on how to handle disruptions at large events?

[Second Life gives me an error message about my Intel motherboard chipset drivers. What should I do?]

What does this error messaqge mean and how can I fix it please?

[Second Life gives me an error message about mangled network data. What does this mean?]

Second Life has detected corruption in either your network transmissions or the files it's attempting to read on your hard drive. You might also be logging in from an invalid location.

The following things might help:

• Try logging in from a different location.
• You might perform a traceroute to identify potential problems on your connection. See How do I check for packet loss (network lag)? for details on traceroutes.
• If you haven't done so already, try uninstalling Second Life (Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel), then install a fresh copy from http://secondlife.com/download.
• Try running the defragment utililty for your hard drive. (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter)

[I'm having problems with internet providers other than Cable or DSL]

I need help with my connection please

[I seem to be having trouble paying. What's going to happen to my account? Will I lose everything?]

Will I lose my account if I have troubles when trying to pay?

[Something happened and now I'm bouncing all over the world like it's a trampoline. What do I do now?]

Try a relog; Log out of Second Life, and then restart the program.

If that doesn't work, try right-clicking on yourself and selecting Take Off > Detach All to remove your attachments. Then, try relogging. Scripted attachments have the ability to affect your avatar's movement, so always try to make sure you know what you are attaching to yourself!

If that still doesn't work, try unplugging your modems and routers for a full minute, then plug them back in and log back into Second Life.

[Second Life gives me an error message that says "Verifying Protocol Version," or "Cannot resolve domain name," or "Cannot find server"]

I am getting this error message.  What does it mean?

[Is it OK to log chat with a scripted object?]

I want to know the rules on logging chat with a scripted object.

[My graphics card is reported as a "GDI Generic". What do I do?]

The first step is to verify that your graphics card is compatible with Second Life.

 

If your card is one of the listed compatible graphics cards, make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed.

 

If you have installed drivers from a company other than ATI or nVidia (such as ASUS Drivers or utilities), try uninstalling them and use the nVidia/ATI drivers instead.

 

If your card is compatible, and your drivers are current, there's a chance that the display's Troubleshoot slider (within Windows) is turned down too far.

 

Make sure the display Troubleshooting slider is set correctly with the following steps:

 

   1. Right-click any empty space on your desktop and choose Properties. OR, open the Control Panel, then open Display.

   2. Click on the Settings tab.

   3. Click the Advanced button.

   4. Click on the Troubleshoot tab.

   5. The Troubleshoot slider should be all the way to the right. If it isn't, slide it all the way to the right, click OK, then restart your computer.

[Someone in Second Life is providing information about another Resident's "real world" life.]

Is it ok for someone to give out another persons real life info in Second Life?

[I'm having problems with more than one computer on one connection]

Common problems with using Second Life on more than one computer on a home connection can include:

• When one account connects, the other gets logged off.
• When one account is connected, the second cannot log in.
• Both accounts can log in, but receive each other's objects and inventory.

Second Life supports multiple connections from the same location. However, certain hardware routers have difficulty handling Second Life's network traffic, and either fail to make connections or hand them to the wrong computers.

If you are using a hardware router, try updating its firmware. This is a software update you can download and install from one of your computers. The firmware software and instructions can be found at your router manufacturer's website.

You can change the port by going to the Preferences window's Network tab, selecting Custom Port Connection, and entering a different number.

Or, a longer way is to use the -port command to specify network ports for each computer in Windows:

   1. Right-click the shortcut you use to start Second Life, and choose Properties.

   2. In the Target dialog, add -port 13000 after the existing entry, with a space before -port. Thus, if the Target field says:"C:\\Program Files\\SecondLife\\SecondLife.exe" you should change it to say:"C:\\Program Files\\SecondLife\\SecondLife.exe" -port 13000 If there are quotes in the Target, such as above, the -port entry must be placed after the quotes, preceded by a space, as above.

   3. Change the 13000 entry to a different number for each computer. Valid numbers are 13000 to 13050. For example, one computer uses 13000, another 13001, etc.

   4. Click OK on the shortcut when you're finished.

 

• Note that with some routers, you may need to configure the router itself to forward the ports to the appropriate computers.

[Is it possible to have bigger regions?]

I'd like to have a region that is bigger than 65536 m2.  Is that possible?

[Why do I see Second Life in only 256 colors?]

Is there a way to see SL in more than 256 colors?

[How do I stop notecard spam?]

Although infrequent, it's really annoying to get spammed with notecards. When this happens, notecard after notecard (or in some cases, other items like textures or landmarks) pops up on your screen -- a deluge of clutter you want to get rid of! Often, notecard spam is unintentional, for reasons that'll be explained shortly. Intentional notecard spam constitutes abuse, and spam certainly isn't allowed in Second Life; it's considered "Disturbing the Peace" in the Community Standards.

If you are being spammed:

When you receive a notecard, texture, or landmark, a blue dialog popup appears asking what you'd like to do with it:

• Keep
• Decline
• Mute

Click Mute to stop receiving items from that source.

There are checkboxes in the Popups tab of the Preferences window that give you further control over offers of notecards, textures, or landmarks (open the Preferences window by selecting Edit > Preferences from the menus at the top of the Second Life window, or by pressing Ctrl+P on your keyboard):

 

• Automatically accept
  • Checking this checkbox means that notecards, textures, and landmarks are automatically accepted into your inventory without asking you.
  • Unchecking this checkbox means that are asked whether you want to keep, decline, or mute these items every time they're offered.
• Automatically view after accepting
  • Checking this checkbox means that notecards, textures, and landmarks are opened automatically after you accept them.
  • Unchecking this checkbox means the items go into your inventory without review.

Spam can be unintentional:

It could be a problem with the script. If you're familiar with LSL (Linden Scripting Language), "touch_start" should be used instead of "touch". The reason is because the former should be used for things that require holding down the mouse button (like dragging checkers on a board), while the latter triggers only once per click, as opposed to repeatedly while the mouse button is held. Since getting a single notecard is enough, it makes sense that "touch_start" is the right choice.

A rare-but-aggravating problem occurs sometimes when a Resident clicks on a notecard giver using "touch", and then teleports away quickly. As a result, the giver object doesn't detect the end of the touch, and goes into an infinite loop, sending notecard after notecard. Again, the source object has to be disabled to break the loop. This can be done by its owner by right-clicking on the object, selecting Open from the pie menu, double-clicking the script to examine it, and clicking the Reset button. If that doesn't fix the problem, uncheck the Running checkbox and click Reset again.

 

In the event the notecard spam you're getting is deliberate, and you can sometimes tell by the content it contains (i.e. vulgar and rude threats), please use Report Abuse to send an abuse report. Be sure to include specific details.

[If I do not allow a friend to see my online status in Second Life, will they still be able to see it on the website?]

If you uncheck Can see my online status for any of your friends, they will be unable to see your online status either inworld or on the Second Life website. They will still be able to send you IMs, chat with you, and send you inventory normally, however.

If you really need a communication blackout, you can put yourself in busy mode by choosing World > Set Busy. While you are in busy mode, you will automatically ignore all local chat, decline all inventory offers, and automatically send a "busy message" to anyone who IMs you.

[Second Life says my AGP card is running in PCI mode. Is this a problem?]

Can someone tell me about AGP cards running in PCI mode?

[Why does a black window with text inside it open when I start Second Life?]

Can someone tell me how to get rid of the black box that opens when I start Second Life?

[Im stuck inside a cage. How do I get out?]

Please tell me how to escape when I get caged or trapped

[When I log into Second Life, I receive an error message that says "Despite our best efforts, something has gone wrong..." and tells me to submit a log file to Support.]

Before you contact Support, there are a few things you can try that may allow you to log in.

 

   1. Completely uninstall Second Life (including temporary cache files) and reinstall.

   2. Change your login location.

   3. During periods of high login activity (evenings and immediately after a new release of Second Life), this message may indicate that your login attempt has timed out. In this case, wait a few minutes, then try to log in again.

[I'm experiencing issues with Intel Extreme graphics]

Intel Extreme graphics are not compatible with Second Life. It may be possible for certain configurations of hardware and software to successfully run Second Life while using Intel Extreme graphics; however, these configurations are not inherently stable, and small changes to Second Life (as Linden Lab provides better graphical features and support for compatible graphics cards) may leave these systems once again unable to use Second Life due to incompatibility.

• To ensure you can use Second Life, your computer hardware should always meet or exceed the Minimum System Requirements.

If you have replced the card with a different type and are getting an error:

Installing a graphics card is a complicated process; it may be that the original Intel graphics are not completely disabled. When adding a new graphics card, the old card must be disabled in two places:

• In the Windows Device Manager (in the Control Panel, under System). Note that the card must be disabled and not uninstalled.
• In the system BIOS, which can be entered when the computer powers on.

 

Unfortunately, I can't provide detailed steps for configuring your BIOS, as they differ greatly.