PC boots with no fonts

My system has been experiencing BSOD on a daily basis. This morning when started up my windows 7 64 bit ultimate showed my desktop icons, but no text under any of them. A couple of my start up programs were on screen but did not show any text either. When I click on START nothing happens. When clicking on windows explorer it brings up the screen, but with no text.

When i boot into safe mode, my screen shows desktop shortcuts, but again with no text. Again, when i click on START nothing happens so I can't get to the control panel here either.

When i try getting to the task manager by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL the screen comes up but with no text.

I'm thinking this latest round of problems is because of corrupted fonts.

If my system fonts have become corrupted is there a way to fix it from a DOS prompt? Am I right in thinking this has something to do with system fonts?

 

Win+R will bring up the Run box, type in SFC /SCANNOW and hit Enter.

I guess you'll need to reboot (or restart Explorer - use TaskMan, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, to kill it then restart it from the File > New Task (Run) explorer) to see any changes. This routine may need to be done 3-4 times to fix further problems that cannot be fixed on the first run.

Is this still on the same HDD from your old topic?

 

Thank you for the reply. This is the same hdd from before. I have still been using it because it passes the Seagate DOS disk test fine. It is the Seatools for Windows Drive Self test that it fails. I had been assuming the DOS test results were the true ones.
I can't get at a run line to enter Win +r. I have tried to enter it from a command prompt in safe mode but it doesn't recognize the command input.

Just for some additional information - i bought this box of rocks used. Having been told on here that it looked like I might have a pirated version of Windows, i have since bought a legal copy of Windows 7 64 bit ultimate and done an upgrade install hoping that would take care of the repeated BSOD - it has not helped. I have two hard drives in this pc and am using the "other" drive tonight. Unfortunately it too experiences the BSOD troubles, but I do have screen fonts on here and can search for answers to my woes.

 

Use Win+R (Windows key +R) to access Run.

On the current installation, copy the contents (if there are any) of C:\Windows\Minidump to your Desktop, then zip and attach them here, we'll try to analyse the crash dumps.

 

Thanks for the tips on the Win plus R. I have run it through in safe mode with command prompt, when i try it in normal mode, it doesn't run at all, in safe mode with networking, it runs for a while then goes to a BSOD.

I have attached my zipped up minidumps from yesterday and today (so fa, that is).

 

Did you try Ctrl+Alt+Esc to bring up TaskMan? That runs on a higher priority (and may use a different interpreter so it might start up) and has a Run function built-in.

The dumps all seem to show signs of data corruption, possibly bad memory too. I wouldn't rule out something like a bad PSU at the root of this, in which case, any of the components might be damaged.

Start in the BIOS, check and note down the temperatures and voltages from there. Then move on to testing the memory, MemTest86+ (from a bootable USB stick) for 7+ runs. Reseat/replace the SATA cables and find alternative power connectors to use for the hard drive next, then test with SeaTools for DOS again.

Hardware diags here: http://carrona.org/diag.html

 

Thanks for the reply. I have run the memtest in the past with no errors, but i will run it again.
Is there a way to narrow it down to the power supply? And if so, how difficult is one of these to replace? I have checked on NewEgg and the prices are all over the place?

Thanks for the help.

 

For the most accurate results, MemTest86+ should be run for 7+ passes - on each stick individually, then test each other slot in turn, same number of passes! Several times I have had users that only saw errors in the 7th run, with 2x others, it was the 11th* run (*I'm not convinced they were testing individual sticks though).

The PSU, like the motherboard, is difficult, if not impossible, to test fully for most users as specialist equipment and knowledge is required. It's therefore important to rule out all other components by working carefully through those hardware diags before trying to make a judgement on which component(s)'s at fault.

IF you have a friend or colleague nearby with a similar but known-good system then component-swapping to test for a few days is a good route to test many parts (I don't advise putting a suspect PSU into a good system though, quick way to lose friends).

When it comes to buying a new PSU, quality comes first - the PSU can kill any component attached to it if it goes badly wrong! I advise SeaSonic or XFX, all their PSU's are high quality. With the best of the other brands, quality is very variable, some models are good, others are not so good, some may be downright poor.

 

This thread can be closed. I have given up on this pc. I think the problem is related to bad hardware - power supply or motherboard. Even if I discovered the problem was the power supply and replaced it, i would still be dealing with a a hard drive which now has serious corruption issues due to the number of BSOD's and system lockups that have occure. Thanks for your help. This forum is an invaluable resource to Geeks like me.

 

Sorry we couldn't find an easy, cheap fix for you; with hardware at the root of the problems, that's rarely possible.