Error messages

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Error with Intel motherboard chipset drivers

To correct this, update the drivers for your motherboard, if they're out of date.

There are a few Intel motherboard types that show this error even if the drivers are current. Notice that this message says Would you like to see a page with drivers? and provides Yes/No buttons. Clicking on No in response to this message results in an attempt to load Second Life.

Components missing from the display panel (vbo check box)

If you receive an error message similar to:

"the following components missing from display panel-------------- vbo check box"

you need to uninstall all versions of Second Life currently on your system, and then reinstall. More detailed instructions can be found in this article.

"Unable to find a valid certificate" or "Unable to establish a secure connection to the login server"

Your local network may be blocking secure logins. It's also possible (but comparatively rare) that your secure login is failing due to an incorrect date/time on your computer.

To verify, double-clicking the clock in the Windows taskbar (usually in the lower-right corner of the screen). On a Mac, check your Date & Time. Make sure it's not a year off! Most modern computers can set their time automatically, including daylight savings.

Be sure a firewall or Internet security isn't blocking Second Life access.

If you're on an office or university network, your network administrator may have secure logins disabled. In this case, you may not be able to use Second Life on that network connection.

If you are on an office or university network that uses HTTPS inspection tools such as Astaro Security Gateway or Kaspersky Internet Security, you likely have your organization's Proxy CA installed on your regular browser. Export the CA to a PEM file and add it add it to the file CA.pem in the folder app_settings in the folder where you installed the Second Life viewer).

Computer's clock is set incorrectly

The full error reads:

Unable to connect to Second Life.
Often this means that your computer's clock is set incorrectly.
Please go to Control Panels and make sure the time and date
are set correctly.

This message has been around a long time and can be misleading. It refers to time-based sensitivities with security certificates, but normally isn't a problem, as you can test for yourself by deliberately setting your computer to the wrong time and trying to login. It should work.

If you're absolutely certain your time is set correctly, you haven't changed your system setup, and Second Life was working fine moments before, it's likely a transient problem with our servers. Check the Grid Status Reports page for news and try to login periodically — often all it takes is patience while we fix Second Life. If you continue to get this problem after logins work reliably again for other Residents, contact Support.

Second Life fails to load and displays an error regarding DINPUT8.DLL

This usually means that Microsoft's DirectX is not installed properly, or is an older version. To fix this, install DirectX 9.0. You can download DirectX at Microsoft's website.

Mangled network data

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
  • Try running the defragment utililty for your hard drive. (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter)

Motherboard or AGP drivers out of date

The software that controls the core components of the computer, particularly the slot the graphics card is plugged into, is out of date and needs updating.

You should be able to update your motherboard/chipset/AGP drivers. If you purchased your computer from a retailer, such as HP, Dell, or eMachines, you can obtain drivers at the manufacturer's website. If your computer was home-assembled, check your motherboard manufacturer's website for the most recent drivers. If you don't know what motherboard you have, you have two options:

  1. Second Life creates a log file (located in C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Application Data\Second Life\Logs) that you can use to identify the manufacturer of your AGP chipset. You can find chipset drivers for the most common manufacturers at the following links:nVidia nForce Chipset DriversVIA Chipset DriversSiS Chipset DriversIntel Graphics Chipset Drivers
  2. Download WCPUID. (This application is not supported by Linden Lab!)
    1. After unzipping WCPUID to a directory, run wcpuid.exe (it may show up for you as simply wcpuid).
    2. Select View > System Info.
    3. When the Select Access Type window pops up, select TYPE 1 and click OK. The relevant information is under Manufacturer, Product String and Version String. At this point, you should be able to search Google for the information contained within Product String. You may not find a direct link to your motherboard manufacturer's site, but you should find a specific name for the motherboard if Product String was a code. You can then use that name to find your motherboard manufacturer's support site.

If you're unsure what to do at this stage, post to the Technical Issues Forum. Be sure to mention your computer's specifications, including manufacturer model number (if it's a prebuilt system like an HP or Dell, or if it's a laptop) or the information WCPUID produced in the Manufacturer, Product String and Version String fields.

AGP card is running in PCI mode

If you actually have a PCI card, feel free to ignore this message. If you have a PCI-Express card, ignore this message or follow the steps below. If you do have an AGP card, you can see which mode it's actually running in.

First, identify the mode your graphics card is running in:

  2. Click on the Settings tab.
  3. Click the Advanced... button near the bottom right.

The next steps differ depending on which brand of graphics card you own.

Nvidia graphics cards

  1. In the Advanced Properties window, click on the tab corresponding to your video card (i.e. Nvidia Geforce 4Ti 4600).
  2. Examine the Bus Type entry under the heading Display Adapter Information.

If this says Bus Type: AGP, your graphics card is running in AGP mode. If it says Bus Type: PCI or Bus Type: PCI (AGP), your card is running in PCI mode.

ATI graphics cards

  1. In the Advanced Properties window, click on the ATI SMARTGART(tm) tab.
  2. Examine the Current Status box under AGP Settings. If this says On (and the Set AGP Speed slider is above Off), your card is running in AGP mode. If Current Status says Off, your card is running in PCI mode.

If you're in PCI mode, enabling AGP mode for your card requires installing the latest drivers for your motherboard.

If Second Life says your card is running in PCI mode, but the above steps indicate that it is running in AGP mode, just proceed as normal. You should not see a noticeable difference in performance.

"Verifying Protocol Version," "Cannot resolve domain name," or "Cannot find server"

This problem usually takes the form of Second Life...

  • Gets to Verifying Protocol Version and stops.
  • Says it Cannot resolve domain name.
  • Says it Cannot find server

This error usually means that Second Life's network connection is completely blocked by your computer or your local network setup. In the vast majority of cases, this means that a firewall (such as your router), firewall software, or internet security software is blocking Second Life's network access. (Firewalls and internet security software frequently block most network uses that are not web browsers, instant messengers, etc.)

If you're running a firewall or firewall/internet security software, you may have to reconfigure or disable it to use Second Life.

If you're using wireless networking, you may need to use a wired connection.

If you're on a business or university internet connection, you may need to contact your network administrator to verify that you can make non-web connections to the Internet. Specifically, you need to make both UDP and TCP connections inbound and outbound, on network ports 443 and 12020 to 13050 (

Can't run full screen, Can't run with a specific resolution, or can't run with 32-bit color

Unfortunately, these error messages usually mean your graphics card isn't compatible with Second Life. If you've checked your graphics card and it is compatible, try updating its drivers.


Check Display settings:

  2. Click on the Settings tab.

Check Windows Program Compatibility settings:

  2. Go to the Compatibility tab.
  3. Make sure everything is unchecked.