[Ponyroper]

I did something dumb and now I need help correcting it. I ran AdAware spyware program and when the list of suspect applications or files came up I let AdAware delete all the listed files without backing them up. Some of the files looked to me like they could have been font files but I assumed AdAware knew what it was doing. Well I ended up deleting some fonts used by XP on bootup and now when I bootup the screen is full of icons with signs and symbols in place of the text. I can manuver around somewhat by memory but it's almost impossible to use. I had found a way to change fonts by right clicking on the desktop and going to Appearences and changing a setting there but after an XP upgrade the other night I can no longer do that and everything stays signs and symbols on the screen. Is there any way to get the lost fonts back without reinstalling the OS? I can reinstall the OS but then all my upgrades will be lost and with my dial-up connection it will take me days to download all the upgrades. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

System: Creative Labs motherboard 500Mhz PIII CPU, 256MB ram, All-In-Wonder ATI graphics, integrated SB Platinum sound card, Pioneer DVD-ROM, Ricoh CD-RW burner, IBM 20GB HDD, Maxtor 40GB HDD, 3.5 floppy, D-Link 10/100 Ethernet PCI card

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Hi Ponyroper!

Go to STARt-->RUN and type sfc /scannow, noting the space between sfc and /scannow. You may need your XP cd to do this. What this does is check your operating system files and replaces any files that are missing/corrupt/damaged. After the blue bar goes away, reboot your computer.

Fenor

[Fenor]

Hi Ponyroper!

Go to STARt-->RUN and type sfc /scannow, noting the space between sfc and /scannow. You may need your XP cd to do this. What this does is check your operating system files and replaces any files that are missing/corrupt/damaged. After the blue bar goes away, reboot your computer.

Fenor

[Ponyroper]

Thanks for your reply Fenor. I did as you suggested however after the bar disappeared a message box appeared with 3 buttons under the text. All the text is in signs and symbols so I have no way of knowing what the message says and which responce button to click. Do you know what the buttons say and which responce I should make? If I could figure out how to change the default font at least I could read text for now. The font would change back to signs and symbols when I reboot but I could work on reloading the fonts before rebooting.

New info: I kept clicking the left message bar for about 2 hours and the progress bar (the one I think you called the blue bar) worked its way across the window and the window disappeared. I then rebooted the system and now I'm back to the way it was before the latest updates. The system boots up with signs and sybols instead of test but I can right click on the desktop and go to properties-appearence-advanced and change the settings so that text replaces the signs and symbols. The original problem is still not fixed as there is no text on bootup. If noone has any other suggestions I will probably try to repair the OS with the instructions from the forum topic at the top of the XP forum list. I'll just have to redownload all the missing XP updates.

Edited by Ponyroper, 12 November 2005 - 06:18 PM.

[Fenor]

Do you have SP2 installed by chance? If you do, go to the C:\I386 or C:\WINDOWS\I386 folder if they exist and see if there is a folder labeled FONTS in there. If there is, right click it, select COPY and then go back to the C:\WINDOWS directory and click on EDIT and then PASTE. Then reboot your computer and see if the fonts are there now.

If that doesn't work, then yes a repair installation of windows is the best course of action. You can find an easy link to the guide in my signature.

Fenor

[Ponyroper]

Fenor,
I looked under the WINDOWS folder and there is no i386 or edit folders. I did a search for i386 and the results were:

i386 C:\WINDOWS\DriverCache
i386 C:\WINDOWS\ServicePack Files
i386 C:\Program Files\Java\j2rel.4.1_02\lib
i386 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ReinstallBackups\0001\DriverFiles
i386.abm C:\Program Files\Creative\SB Live\PlayCenter\Album

There is an empty Fonts folder under the WINDOWS folder.

Would it be possible to put my XP installation disk in the computer and copy the Fonts or Edit folders from it into the C:\WINDOWS folder? Thanks again for your help.

By the way, my XP version is: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600.

[Fenor]

do a Search for FONTS in the i386 C:\WINDOWS\ServicePack Files folder. If it is found, right click it and select COPY and then go to C:\WINDOWS and click on EDIT and then PASTE.

Fenor

[Ponyroper]

Sorry Fenor, I forgot to tell you that there was no Edit folder under the WINDOWS folder. Can I just make a new Edit folder or is there some other important stuff that should be in that folder?

[Fenor]

It's FONTS folder not edit folder.

C:\WINDOWS\SERVICEPACKFILES\I386\FONTS <-- Does this folder exist? If it does copy that folder to C:\WINDOWS.

Fenor

[Ponyroper]

There is no FONTS folder in the i386 folder and there is no EDIT folder in the WINDOWS folder and the FONTS folder in the WINDOWS folder is empty. Is there a way to copy the fonts from the XP installation disk to the FONTS folder in the C:\WINDOWS directory?

[Fenor]

All of the files are stored in .cab files. You can try to open them all up and find the FONTS folder in there, or you can just do a REPAIR INSTALLATION of xp, using the link in my signature as a guide. Don't worry, afterwards all your programs will still work and you won't lose any settings or files. All this does is replace your operating system files. C:\WINDOWS. You will need to redo all windows updates after doing this.

Fenor

[Ponyroper]

Thanks, I think I'll take a stab at finding the FONTS folder on the disk as downloading all the updates will take days with my dial up modem. I think you can close this thread, my question has been answered.