Windows speaking in shapes :(

ok , my sister has a Dell Inspiron 14R (N4010) and idk if its a virus or something else but all the letters are not letters anymore and they are all shapes. I cannot read anything on the computer but I am able to log into windows. In case it matters the service tag is 5770tn1. I tried changing the windows language to English in the "region and time" settings and that didnt help. Any help with this issue would be great. Thank you in advance! Oh yeah its Windows 7 os.

-B

 

I do not quite understand what you mean by "shapes"; something like Wingdings? Did she (or you) change the system font?

 

yes Pw, just like wingdings and I was able to get to the font screen and try to reset to factory defaults but got nothing. I am beginning to think that the hardrive is corrupt but I can still log into windows. If I could read any web pages I would try to get some good virus scanners on there but I cant read any dialog boxes or anything. Thanks for reading

 

If this has happened very recently try hitting F8 as soon as the system starts. You should get a menu with a number of boot options. See if it boots to Safe Mode and from there do a system restore to a date which precedes this happening.

 

Earthling, I can boot in safe mode and normal mode but I don't know if I can get to those screens because I can't read anything. I have managed to try making a backup image but everytime I try to do anything that needs adminstrative account I get a dialog box and can't read it. :-( I will try your idea in safe mode though and see what happens. Thanks for the advice

 

If it's still unreadable in safe mode my suggestion probably isn't going to help. But I'm puzzled. If you 'cannot read anything on the computer' how did you manage to change the language setting? Is it that this effect is only evident when using a browser?

 

Yeah it is still unreadable in safe mode. I managed to navigate a few options in windows because I have my laptop (also with windows 7) and I was using it to open the same windows as the corrupted computer. I have very few options left. I am assuming I need to replace the harddrive. Thanks again for reading

 

Try right click an empty part of desktop and select Personalize (should be last on list). Then select Window color (second icon along bottom). Then Advanced settings link (blue link at bottom).

Now open the Item: drop down box and select the second item. Your font dropdown box should now show the current font. What is it? Can you change it?

http://www.vistax64.com/attachments/vista-general/266d1181622118-want-smaller-font-size-fonts.jpg

 

I just looked at System Restore and you should be able to go to Start and type in system restore and hit <enter> to open system restore. Then hit <enter> to continue, Check the date of the default restore point to make sure it is before the problem, hit <enter> to accept that restore point, and then <enter> again to begin the restore.

 

Doesn't sound at all like a hardware issue to me. When you get the F8 menu up try VGA mode. Let us know.

@gvstn - the OP's screen is unreadable so isn't able to do any of those things