Error in O/S - cannot read any text

My husband was using his PC...a pentium4 with WinXP SP2 and it was running slow so he rebooted. When it came back up the text on the screen, programs, explorer and registry were unintelligible. The text looked like the wingdings font. Do you have any idea of what might have been changed or how to fix this...thank you so much for any help you may have! .

 

thanks...have rebooted several times. also have done troubleshooting with monitor without any changes. makes sense to try font!

 

the only fonts available are system and fixedsys. have copied the c:\windows\font folder from my pc and am copying to other pc and am rebooting. will let you know of success or not. thanks.

 

fixed!

Since there was no font to change to copying the fonts to the c:\windows\fonts folder worked. luckily the networking part of the system worked and I could copy fonts from my pc to his over the network. thanks for triggering the thinking process!!! much obliged.

 

thank you!

I agree! And to the credit to you and the rest of the staff and members on this site...this is where I turn to with issues to resolve...that I have been unable to find anywhere else. Thanks again!

 

can't read text

I fixed the problem yet it has reoccured several times...what could be happening for the fonts to disappear repeatedly? thanks...

 

The Fonts folder is a very special type. Sometimes merely copying new fonts into it can work well. Other times it only lasts for one session or doesn't work at all.

You must troubleshoot it systematically.

First try opening the Fonts folder and clicking File > Install New Fonts and browse to the location of the new fonts. Select the ones you need and complete the process.

If that doesn't give the desired results or if the "Install New Font" option isn't available, you may need to repair the Fonts folder. The easiest way to do that is by using TweakUI for XP. You'll find that option in TweakUI by clicking "Repair" and scrolling the window to "Repair Fonts Folder. "

Another possible fix would be to run SFC /SCANNOW and be ready to supply the install CD.

Lastly, there is the possibility of Registry corruption that will need to be repaired.

Also please see:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?p=240986#post240986

Good luck.

 

can't read text

Thank you...will give that a try!

 

can't read text

I installed TweakUI but when I attempted to repair the fonts nothing happened. will let it go and if it happens again will try the other solutions. truthfully I think it needs to be rebuilt. The taskbar menu is missing as well...thanks.

 

Please note that there is a typo in my thread http://www.windowsbbs.com/showpost.php?p=240951&postcount=10 in the bolded line for the desktop.ini redo, should anyone try to use that particular step for recreating the fonts folder's desktop.ini. There should not be a * symbol in it (as seen between the AB and 1D). It should be:
[.ShellClassInfo]
UICLSID={BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}

I will email admin. and see about getting that past post edited, to fix that. I didn't put that star symbol in there. I wonder how it got in there?

 

Murphy is an * Ann. (As-terisk)

pccoach, here is some further info that I copied from a reliable source that is now unknown to me. It will guide you when you decide to go forward with this font folder fix:

As ever, backup any Registry Data before editing.

Best regards.

 

can't read text

thank you so much...! this is the best forum I have found for support on the net....made so by the great people in it!