Quietfire Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Everything is coming up characters. I cant read anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quietfire Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 Im fine here on the internet, but my start menu and such show these wierd characters. like... .^^///? and a few others that I cant replicate here cause theyre not on my keyboard to replicate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLAM Dad Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Have you run a virus check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quietfire Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 I have McAfee and PCtools and yes I have run scans on both, but here is the rub... I cannot read the results cause it looks like this... ;fhea[dsurtjeiqtpatfhqtyheatifeujrtie4ty hge59toehrdnf98e3485353 (only it isnt letters like above its just all these wierd symbols) I contacted Dell via phone and asked them to walk me through a 'restart from a previous point' and they stupidly said, "Ok, why dont you do that and call us back if it doesnt work". So I responded, "If I could READ what is what on my start menu then I WOULD, thats why Im calling you to help me DO IT. They said I would have to purchase a software agreement first. After a few well chosen words, which I wont say here, I hung up. Its wierd, Im online, here and I am fine. Im typing and seeing letters and no problem. But if i type something in the address bar, it comes up symbols. Even all the stuff that is usually at the top of your window, ya know...all the icons are there but the words are replaced with those wierd symbols. Thank goodness I dont need to see what I am typing otherwise I would never be able to go anywhere on the internet right now. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Domini Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 I've heard BAD things about Dell. Like they use deliberately cheap parts to make PC's and exploit legal loopholes when the PC's go down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philothea Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Sounds like your default language and/or font got messed up... I don't have Windows, so I can't help, but if you either know (without being able to read anything) how to adjust those, or you can talk to a friend over the phone who can tell you what to click on, you might be able to reset it. Either that or just move to Linux. : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quietfire Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 Does anyone have a Dell XP ? I agree that it is definitely a font or language thing. Dell kept telling me that it is a software problem and that I need to pay for an agreement. Jerks. Please, help me. Im tired of looking at these crazy symbols. I dont read symbols well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scardella Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 I'd have to say ditto on the language thing... look for a blue box w/ 2 white letters in it on the bottom or the top of the screen. If there's anything other than en, then it's trying to display in a different language. (It might not be there, so don't worry if it's not there.) Try going to start -> control panel (icon w/ pencil and a check, right row about the middle). Then hit Date, time, language and regional options (icon w/ globe and calendar). Then hit Regional and language options (Globe) There should be a dropdown box towards the top of the resulting window, if it doesn't say English (United States), English (Canada), English (UK), etc... Switch it to the appropriate thing and hit apply. If you can read it afterwards, w00t! If not, let us know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Glad you were able to help Scardella! We have an XPS (we love dells, never had any serious problems, and if we did the support people were very helpful.... sorry you have had such a tough time QF!) but its currently stored several hundred miles away at my sister-in-laws house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman82 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 When you say "Dell XP", do you mean a Dell computer with the Windows XP operating system? If so, what type of Dell computer? Desktop? Laptop? I have 2 Dell laptops with XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scardella Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 I'm assuming you're using a Dell XPS (laptop? it's a line of gaming oriented computers.)... There should be 2 drop down boxes where I directed you to. Put in English in the top one, and press OK (leftmost button on the bottom). Why are you afraid of killing your comp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quietfire Posted February 15, 2006 Author Share Posted February 15, 2006 Ok, Scardella, I did what you asked and I now have english again, but there is one problem left. The letters are so small, even what I am typing now that I find that I am right up against the screen practically. Good thing I can type without actually seeing the words or I would need a pair of bifocals or something. Its a desktop, not a laptop and I must have been messing around with it the other day and did something, cause now that I can see everything in tiny tiny english, I did scans big time and nothing came up. So now I need the font (I think that's it) back to where it was. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 [quote name='Myles' date='Feb 14 2006, 12:39 PM']I've heard BAD things about Dell. Like they use deliberately cheap parts to make PC's and exploit legal loopholes when the PC's go down. [right][snapback]887162[/snapback][/right] [/quote] Yeah, they used cheap parts to build the headphones plug on my laptop. Well, it was so cheaply made that it broke very easily. Now I have no sound at all. Dell would rather charge me to replace the motherboard than fix the broken plug (which would be much simpler). I don't think I'll get a Dell notebook again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Soze Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 [quote name='Quietfire' date='Feb 14 2006, 12:03 PM']Everything is coming up characters. I cant read anything. [right][snapback]887121[/snapback][/right] [/quote] First, learn how to read. If that doesn't work, I'd set it on fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theologian in Training Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 [quote name='Quietfire' date='Feb 14 2006, 07:35 PM']Ok, Scardella, I did what you asked and I now have english again, but there is one problem left. The letters are so small, even what I am typing now that I find that I am right up against the screen practically. Good thing I can type without actually seeing the words or I would need a pair of bifocals or something. Its a desktop, not a laptop and I must have been messing around with it the other day and did something, cause now that I can see everything in tiny tiny english, I did scans big time and nothing came up. So now I need the font (I think that's it) back to where it was. Any ideas? [right][snapback]887528[/snapback][/right] [/quote] Check what your display is set at. It should either be 800x600 or 1024x768. You can easily check that by right clicking anywhere on your desktop and then going to Properties. Then from there go to the last tab which is settings. If all is well on that side, go to the tab right before that: Appearance and click on the font size you need. Hope that helps God Bless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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