is there even support anymore? i still, amazing as it sounds, have a premium account. or should i take this as the final straw and walk away?

... ask Support, I suppose.

finally found the place for a live chat.

sigh

Support exists. Now determine if support exists.

the chat person is telling me i have to upgrade my graphics drivers

i have had very very bad experience doing that

he's saying that firestorm and sl viewers work differently and that i have to upgrade my drivers

how do i find my current driver so that i can save it (since it DOES work with firestorm) so if i try to change my drivers and it screws up i can get back to running with firestorm?

did you download it when you installed it?

oh shit

nevermind

open your list of programs as if you were going to uninstall one

search on the name of your graphics driver - so nvidia if that's what it is

find the number

search your program files for that

if you downloaded it - knowing you, it's still in your download folder as well

find that and make sure you have a copy of it on your desktop - then no matter what happens you can reinstall it if you need to

if you can't find it - at least write down the number that is installed - then if the new one doesn't work

you can go back to the website and download the one you're currently using again

well, that almost made sense to me.

i believe that i have NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 M running driver version 8.17.11.9562

i went to the Nvidia site for drivers

and IT says: The GeForce M series and GeForce Go series notebook GPUs use drivers that have been customized by the notebook manufacturers

most notebook driver updates must come from the notebook manufacturer.

and i do recall that was the case the last time i spent 2 hours getting Alienware assistance to make SL run

i also have a folder that is called drivers ( i seem to remember this being setup during the 2 hours session years ago) and that folder has 4 subfolders with what appear to be diff releases

the latest folder being from March 2013. i suppose i could go back and check my blog and/or plurks because i remember writing about the wonderful Dell guy who helped me

my computer is out of warranty.

btw Honour smile you were right about knowing me. EVERYTHING is still in the download folder

when i did searched in the program files i do not see a version number on the nvidia

if it's modified it might have a different identifier - but it has to have a way to delineate versions - don't go to the program files

go to your control panel

find the function that let's you uninstall a program - and no you're not uninstalling it

search for nvidia - or order the list by name and go to the N's

you'll find something called Nvidia Graphics Driver ###.# where the hashtags are numbers

there will be other nvidia files but that's the driver version you're using

then find that and seek it out in your download folder - make sure you write down the number and know how to find it

then go here: Alienware : The Ultimate Gaming Machine™

and try for an automatic update

I know you hate instructions like the next one - but play with the downloader til it tells you what you need to know about your nvidia driver

that alienware site is for customers whose system is older than sept 2009

I don't remember how old yours is

if it's newer then there must be a different process and it's not like I'm an alienware expert

except there's a link to follow on that page for newer systems so you should be able to find what you need

and yes, I'm crossing my fingers for you

that would be my alienware. the pre-Dell acquisition

but i still can't find the driver business:

ok that's just weird you found the right one in your download folder correct?

make sure you know where it is and then go update your driver

I also found this which may or may not help [Solved] Alienware m17x - How to install NVIDIA driv...

so i just found my notes from the marathon session back in March 2013. the wonderful tech installed everything, then ended up having to uninstall everything and then put them back, then he upgraded them

i think that i have the nVideo Notebook Beta driver P06-R273147.exe

and i seem to have a folder with that title

k - then go to the support siteand see what happens

or call a local expert in and let him/her do the dirty work

can't i just install an older version of SL viewer? or maybe i'll just run Firestorm

i don't think today is the right time for me to mess about with this :/

I agree and yes you can install an older version - it'll just try to force you to update every time you logon. You could try using one of the beta versions and see if that will work.

trying to use the older one. i don't understand why they feel they need to force me to change my drivers. let the program fail if my drivers are incorrect

the fact is, i have an old gaming machine that was customized. i don't want to mess with it.

all i want is to be a happy dumb SL resident, giving them my yearly stipend AND my monthly stipend

i really don't ask much more than that they let me log in and access my inventory. why do they have this compulsion to make life hard for the residents?

just let me throw my money at you and leave my drivers alone.

the old version is hung up "looking for required update"

/me shrugs. the heck with them. I'll move to Firestorm. What a crummy customer experience

don't - first uninstall second life

then do a clean install from the website

it could be just a glitch in the update routine - I get them and when I see the update coming I close it and download it manually

if it won't load I switch to a beta

there's one from Nov 17 that I know works

i did that Honour. I did a clean install. 3 times

give me the link for the Nov 17 beta

but basically the help desk told me that my drivers are out of date and so i have to update them

yeah, well, what do they know Release Notes/Second Life Release/3.7.21.296736 - Second Life Wik...

what is that link?

the Nov beta?

didn't work

aww - well then stick to firestorm

and find a local guru to worry about the hard stuff

i tried one of the earlier betas also. same thing. they all get to the Initializing VFS and then go away

maybe i'm missing deleting some files?

i've uninstalled

is there some other place SL puts files that dont get removed on the uninstall?

get ccleaner - it's free - and clean your registry - can't hurt

ok found a reference to the problem that says a clean install - wiping out all old files is the fix - it points to this page for instructions How to uninstall and reinstall Second Life - Second Life

but I'd still run ccleaner when you're done

if that doesn't work there are more links to try here:My SL viewer wont load the game!

i'm going to run Firestorm until I find time/a person to help reload my driver or get a new computer or give up on SL completely. Thank goodness there is Firestorm

Wish I could try to help; working my *** off ATM & didn't get home til 10 last night I hate being too busy to help friends out w/ computer issues, but it's the case at the exact moment.

dont fret seanmcpherson ! I appreciate the thought. And since Firestorm DOES work there is no immediate crisis.