second life won't start. (graphics error) Windows XP + NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+

[lxicon Harlan]

here are some details from the crash report:

CPUInfo : Pentium(R) Dual-Core  CPU      E6300  @ 2.80GHz (2800.03 MHz)

ClientInfo : BuildVersion : 231165

DisplayDeviceInfo : NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ (DriverVersion 6.14.0012.7533)

OSInfo : Microsoft Windows XP

Percent Memory use: 36%

Total Physical KB:  3669036

Avail Physical KB:  2335244

 

 

-- edit --

 

the error i get is the one about ".your video card drivers did not install properly, are out of date, or are for unsupported hardware..."

i've re-installed the drivers twice, i've unistalled and re-installed SL a few times, i've tried removing the cache manually and rebooting and i've tried a few 3rd party viewers (Phoenix & Firestorm) they all give the same error.

the last time i ran SL was version 1-10-6-0 in 2006

 

 

-- edit 2--

 

@Knowl Paine : thanks for your help. i ran that old version of SL in 2006 when i first heard about SL. it got uninstalled around the time i upgraded the CPU and memory in my PC.

@Rolig Loon : thanks for the confirmation that the card and OS work. now i just need to figure out why SL doesn't think it can start. do you use two monitors? -i do.

as for the driver version : http://driverscollection.com/?H=GeForce%209600%20GT&By=NVidia&SS=Windows%20XP shows "Version:275.33 WHQL"

i downloaded and installed that version (275.33-desktop-winxp-32bit-english-whql.exe) from nvidia before installing SL the first time.

my old original version of SL was uninstalled a few years ago. i also tried installing Second_Life_1-23-5-136262_Setup.exe (from seconmdlife.com) to see if a version 1 viewer would work (no joy)

@Peggy Paperdoll :  the crash report i mentioned was from SL (in C:\Documents and Settings\alex\Application Data\SecondLife\logs). my PC is running fine, and i have no other issues with my video card display or using the GPU to run seti@home or other GPU based distributed computing while my PC is idle.

* i did not "completely remove the old driver before i installed a replacement driver" i'll try that after work. i DID select a "fresh" install of the graphics drivers when prompted.

--

i do have the logs from SL, it should have the reasons why SL thinks there is a problem. the drivers are installed properly (fresh install) they are up to date (275.33) and the device reported in the SL log is supported and recommended (NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+) the error message givem is not specific enough for me to go any further.

the logs have a few "WARN" entries about not finding my personal settings (in C:\Documents and Settings\alex\Application Data\SecondLife\user_settings) but that's normal as it's the first launch and i have not made any settings 

the last section of the log probably has the reason fro the crash. i am not familiar with the SL "LLGLManager::initGL" code:

2011-06-09T14:11:07Z INFO: LLAppViewer::initWindow: Initializing window...

2011-06-09T14:11:08Z INFO: LLViewerWindow::LLViewerWindow: NOTE: ALL NOTIFICATIONS THAT OCCUR WILL GET ADDED TO IGNORE LIST FOR LATER RUNS.

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z WARNING: LLGLManager::initWGL: No ARB pixel format extensions

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z WARNING: LLGLManager::initWGL: No ARB WGL PBuffer extensions

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z WARNING: LLGLManager::initWGL: No ARB WGL render texture extensions

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z WARNING: LLWindowWin32::switchContext: No wgl_ARB_pixel_format extension, using default ChoosePixelFormat!

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLWindowWin32::switchContext: GL buffer: Color Bits 32 Alpha Bits 8 Depth Bits 32

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize multitexturing

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize mipmap generation

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_texture_env_combine

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize separate specular color

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize anisotropic filtering

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_texture_compression

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_occlusion_query

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_point_parameters

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_shader_objects

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_vertex_shader

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_fragment_shader

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_EXT_blend_func_separate

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z INFO: LLGLManager::initExtensions: Couldn't initialize GL_ARB_draw_buffers

2011-06-09T14:11:09Z WARNING: LLGLManager::initGL: GL Drivers do not support GL_ARB_multitexture



 

--edit 3--

 

after looking at the logs again, i decided the error had something to do with openGL rendering (LLGLManager::initGL).

i downloaded an openGL 3D benchmark app called "FurMark 1.9.0" and it also gave an error about my system not being openGL 2.0 compliant.... that was a good second opinion that wasn't based on SL.

 

 @Peggy Paperdoll : thanks for suggesting that i completly remove any old drivers. i had removed the Nvidia drivers and used a "fresh" install but i looked over my add/remove programs and found some old drivers for "intel graphics accelerator" and "asus display drivers" leftover from previous hardware. 

i removed all the previous hardware drivers, removed all the nvidia drivers, rebooted and installed the nvidia drivers again. after the next reboot second life and the FurMark benchmark both worked.

 

thanks again.

[Knowl Paine]

Your system specs appear to be good for SL.

Are you getting a message or code with the error?

Have you run SL on this machine in the past?

http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello Ixicon. Maybe you need to download the last drivers for your graphics card. http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us Your card is very good and included in the recommended cards for SL.

[Knowl Paine]

It is unlikely that all 3 viewers are wrong. Your hardware is supported so that can be removed from the possibilities. I'm not a computer expert but there are a few here at the forum. I would give this thread a little time to gather additional replies from Residents.

[Rolig Loon]

You're using exactly the same graphics card that I am, and we are both on Windows XP.  That combination works great for me. I use Phoenix exclusively. I suspect that your drivers are out of date or installed improperly.  Take a look at http://driverscollection.com/?H=GeForce%209600%20GT&By=NVidia, for example, to see what's most current.

If you still have that old version of the SL viewer installed on your computer, BTW, you should probably uninstall it completely.  It's possible that some of the libraries that were distributed with that version are incompatible with today's viewers, and may give you trouble if a modern viewer tries to access them.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

The message you are getting is telling you that either your drivers are not installed properly or you video card is not supported.  Since your video card is certainly supported (I ran that exact card for a couple years before I upped my system to the card I'm using now), that leaves your drivers.  I suspect your driver is damaged or corrupted......that happens fairly often with a big crash (and you said you crashed).  You mentioned that you reinstalled your drivers (twice).  Here's a question that is very important (especially when you develop driver issues after a crash).......did you completely remove the old driver before you installed a replacement driver?  If you did not then you very likely compounded your problem.    Installing a new driver over an old driver is never a good idea (you should, at least, uninstall the old driver first........a better way is to use a driver removal utility).  After a crash like you said you experienced and your driver gets damaged or corrupted, installing a new driver on top of it will sometimes cause more crashes......at the very least, it did not fix your problem.  I recommend you go to nVidia's driver download site and get a fresh copy of the driver for you card (save it to your hard drive).  Then go to Download.com and pick up this driver cleaner:

 

http://download.cnet.com/Driver-Sweeper/3000-2094_4-75219868.html?tag=mncol;1

 

Follow the instructions.......they're simple.  Then install the driver you downloaded from nVidia.  I think that will fix it for you.

 

[khaled4561]

hi plice help to start sl

[Rolig Loon]

If you have a question, please start a new thread and ask it. If English is not your preferred language, you may write the question in your own language and we will try to translate it.