font error?

first off i would like to say sorry. i registered two nicks here just now. the first (stealth) i couldnt activate cuz my junk ISP mail server is down or something, and the second is my old aol account. so about 15 mins ago member "stealth" is a ghost.

now the problem. alot of my apps are having some kind of disply error. mainly my IM clients, yahoo, msn - are show in boxes where the text should be. i.e. the send button on my MSN messenger is for little boxes -[] [] [] [] - instead of the word send. and in other programs, like photshop where i can create/edit text layers i get a error message, about 50% of the time, syaing::

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ERROR: System default font not found
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Then the program either crashes or wont let me edit text.
i havent recently installed any new fonts or applications and i cant figure out what the deal is. help!

EDIT:: i think i found my problem. the font "console" is missing. anyone know where i can get it?

 

Welcome to WindowsBBS

Windows has a default set of fonts which should not be deleted, check this list and make sure you have all the fonts. If you have all the fonts, try the repair font folder option in TweakUI. If you don't have TweakUI the latest version for Windows98 can be downloaded here.

Since you're getting the error in messenger programs you may have a version conflict or corruption in riched32.dll The original version of riched32.dll in Windows98 installs with wordpad. to restore the file you need a real Windows98 disk (not an OEM restore disk) Gto to start> settngs> control panel> add & remove programs> windows setup tab, remove the check for wordpad, click apply, click ok, restart your computer, go back and put the check back for wordpad, click apply, click ok, restart your computer.

 

been there done that, well except for the tweakui which i just tried and nothing worked. sry i should of noted what i've already tried. that list of fonts are still available, the only one missing that i had before is console so i figured that may have had something to do with it, and i restored riched32 the other day. thanx anyway for the help.

 

Are you looking for Control Panel\Fonts as the 'console'? The TweakUI repair is only for repairing the Fonts folder, when it appears to act as a normal folder.
Why not try a different font for the window title bar? The default is Ms San Seriff [Western]. To change this, right click on the Desktop, select Properties. Select the Appearance tab, and click right where it say Active Window in the box, down below you will then be able to change the font. Then do the same for Inactive Window.
Or use the System File Checker to replace the files 'sserife.fon' and 'serife.fon', located in C:\Windows\Fonts. You must have the windows CD or know the location of the window setup files on the hard drive to do this.

 

um. ok. not "the console ", the font called console. nvm that mess. the more i look at it the less i think its actually a font error. i also get a run-time error thats a different code all the time but generally it says something about "failed to load image library" or "image library must load first ".... something along that line each time. omg i dont want to reformat yet.

 

If you mean Lucida Console, use SFC to replace Lucon.Ttf. If you could post the error message, that would be a big help. As when it says image library, that could be referring to a DLL [Dynamic Link Library] file, maybe Riched32.Dll as suggested by Rcerrato. It does Rich Text fonts.

 

i tried replacing the riched32.dll before i came here. that didnt work. the text that is ******* up is on only on certain areas of apps. and occasionaly when i try to change a font in any app with the option it will not display but maybe 10-15 fonts, and i actually have close to 900. but heres an img of what my msnsgr looks like. its the same way most other apps display text in certain areas.

MSN IM Screenie

and to top it off now my IE crashes everytime i try to install a new component from the web, ex. Flash 7, japanese language support.

 

There is your problem. 98 can only handle 1000 fonts, but this number is subjective.
All the fonts in your font folder take up memory in Windows and fill up the Registry, which slows everything down. In addition, there’s a limit on the number of TrueType fonts that you can install in Windows 98.

The limit isn’t a fixed number as such: it’s based on the length of the TrueType font names and file names. All the font files are stored in a single key in the Registry and a Registry key can’t be larger than 64K. Furthermore, the GDI keeps a list of fonts and it only has 10Kb for font file names. If the file names are all around ten characters and the names of the fonts themselves around 20, that gives you around 1,000 fonts. However, if you’re keeping installed fonts anywhere apart from the FONTS and SYSTEM folders, the Registry has to store the full path to the font, which takes up more space.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-GB;835820
The above link explains this, and provides workarounds and how to get rid of extra fonts. You may have some duplicate ones.

 

Hello stealth2,
I've been watching you struggle with this and have noticed that you've tried many known obvious solutions. I think I will run off and see if I can find something a bit more uncommon or known and will return when or if I come up with an interesting work around or fix. I will leave after adding a few ideas to your current post. Here's to hoping I'll be back soon......

It is worth mentioning that the win.ini file and it's list of font substitutions and the resulting size (of win.ini) may also have an effect on any font burp. I don't remember the specicfic size limit for win.ini but I'm sure it must be somewhere in all the links you have been given for "Font Problems ".

Also in some cases the actual font size, i.e. 8,10,12,16 etc., will produce boxes instead of the font if the preferred size is to big. To add even a more memory clouded "hmmm ", I recall my husband having a problem similar to this although I don't remember the exact circumstances. I do remember he merely opened his Printer Setup and made sure it was set "to print in color" rather than "grayscale" or "black/white ". I can't explain why this worked but it was so odd it stuck in my memory. However illogical this fix sounds I thought I'd throw it out there.

Have you ran SFC.exe to check for the possibility of corrupted Fonts? Is your Font folder attributes marked as "system "? Do you have the option To install or uninstall fonts from within the font folder? (It may be worth reducing your number of fonts temporarily just to eliminate that win98 size limitation.) Some programs will install their needed fonts in the folder. If for some reason the font is unable to install or the registry hkey, as mentioned, does outgrow the allotted size, problems will occur.

I'm off. A huntin' I will go.....

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I got an interesting link with some additional helpful tips and could-be's:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CommonFontProbs.htm

 

thanx for the help everyone.

as for the font # :: i've had that many for a couple years now.... no problem before, but I am going through the ones i actually use and want and keeping them only. BUUUUT on another not:: i just reformatted. got tired of the problem with IE and the font thing i do it every 6 months or so any way just to start fresh and this was about 5 months early but oh well, 45 mins of downtime never killed anyone.

 

Ah shoot!

Looks like another mystery "resolved but not solved ". It sure would have been nice to have figured out the root cause but I can understand your decision. This was going on a bit long and was interfering the functional fundamental use of your computer. I focused on the msn messenger glitch and was able to find specific references by others who had the same or similar problem. They followed up using most of the suggested fixes included in this post. With the possible exception of one user who replaced the win98 default fonts and folder, no one came back with positive results and of course their posts were left opened and unresolved (no follow up on the final conclusion or fix). The possible root cause had to many variables from a font_fiasco to video adapter to IE files to printer/scanner to multilanguage character mapping problem to hardware/software conflict to older or unsupported fonts and on and on.

It looks like this is one of those problems that was going to be fairly easy or down right near impossible. You tried the fairly easy and then made the best decision for yourself. With bittersweet congrats I'm glad this problem is behind you. Thanks for the update and your welcome.