[Viewer 3.3.3 comes up fine, but vanishes suddenly within a couple of minutes]

Thank you for your response.  

Yesterday I experienced the same phenomenon on a second computer using Firestorm.  There seems to be no apparent pattern to the occurences, sometimes it will occur once or twice, then all is well.  Sometimes it will occur repeatedly (I think I've had the patience to see it 8 times in a row before giving up).

[Viewer 3.3.3 comes up fine, but vanishes suddenly within a couple of minutes]

I've been having this problem off and on for the last 3 weeks or so.  I bring up the viewer, and within a couple of mouse clicks, the program vanishes.  Gone. Nothing hangs up, no freezing, no logoff, just simply disappears in the blink of an eye.

When I try to relog, I get a message saying that the region is about to restart (which it's not).  If I log in anyway, the viewer opens.  It seems that if I can make it through the first 5 minutes of being inworld, I have no problem.

This is what's in my "about" tab:

Second Life 3.3.3 (260300) Jun 21 2012 14:14:25 (Second Life Release)
Release Notes

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5300 @ 1.73GHz (1729.44 MHz)
Memory: 2047 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Graphics Card Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.36-070314a3-045540C-Dell
OpenGL Version: 2.0.6465 Release

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.21.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8q zlib/1.2.5 c-ares/1.7.1
J2C Decoder Version: KDU v6.4.1
Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.750000
Qt Webkit Version: 4.7.1 (version number hard-coded)
Voice Server Version: Not Connected
Built with MSVC version 1600

[Cannot open SL regular viewer, or beta viewer, or Firestorm. No login field.]

On new installations of SL regular viewer, SL beta viewer, and Firestorm, the installation appears to finish satisfactorily, but when the viewer is launched, I get a screen half black, half gray.  There is no text or field to login.  I believe the problem is in my machine, but have no idea where to look.

Have run SL on this computer for over 2 years without problem.  Windows 7, graphics driver up-to-date.

-----------------------

2/17/2012 6:26 pm SLT

Installed viewer 3.2.1 & am back up an running.  Thank you all for your suggestions and advice!

Spin

------------------------

3/22/2012

I am wondering, since my problem is a known issue, if the latest release of the viewer may have fixed the issue.

Spin

 

[Building - object disappears when I try to move, rotate, scale.]

When in build mode, if I try to move, scale, or rotate an object it disappears.  How can I get the right size/rotation/position if I cannot see the object?

Also, even though grid display settings are on, I cannot see a grid.

That was the problem.  Now the complaint.

SL has the most unintelligible help system I have EVER seen!  There are far too many help options, and I have spent hours pouring through lists of questions that don't pertain to my problem, searched and re-searched menus, and still have no idea how to get help.

     How about a "Help Tree" -- one location with an outline of possibilities so that a question can be sent to the appropriate place for an answer.

     How about a "Help Desk" -- could be staffed by knowledgeable resident volunteers, for help within minutes.

     How about a "Resident Help" group, where users can ask SL questions of others?

I am extremely frustrated.  I have been searching for an answer to the above problems since View 2 was first released.  I'm not even sure that I have found help by posting on this question board.  I have asked these questions in other groups I belong to.  No one else seems to have a similar problem.

TAKING MONTHS TO GET ANSWERS TO A QUESTION ON BUILDING IS UNACCEPTABLE!  If I were a big merchant builder and knew the appropriate Linden to address, my problem would have been solved in minutes.  But I am a plebe, and therefore ignorant, unimportant, and worst of all, felling VERY unwanted by the powers that be in SL.