laptop display

[wb48]

My laptop runs Windows xp pro.....ran System Mechanic last night and, amonst a number of features, ran a registry clean up. On completion I rebooted the box and when the login window came up.....it displayed characters which looked like wingdings, or similar. As a result, I cannot make head nor tail of the system. Likewise, when I clicked to log on, the desk top appears but all characters are again similar to wingdings ???? I tried to resolve running the desktop in tandem, however, even trying to select the appropriate language does not resolve the issue. Any ideas ? I think I may have ended up having asked System Mechanic to remove old registry files and this has caused an issue. regards Will

[njovin]

I would try booting into safe mode (press the f8 key as the computer is booting before the windows logo appears). You will be presented with a boot menu, choose safe mode and press enter. When you first enter safe mode, after, logging in, you will be presented with a dialog box explaining that you are in safe mode and asking if you would like to use system restore. Clicking YES will put you in safe mode, clicking NO will bring up system-restore. I would try to do a system restore if I were you. Even if the characters are messed up in Safe Mode, the System Restore utility uses a calendar-type interface, so you should be able to get by.

[wb48]

Tried the restore but guess what....the Gods are working against me...Someone, (probably me) switched system restore out and I can't seem to be able to get to an earlier date !!!!! Looking at the display, it looks like it could be another language but consists of squares, black dots, x's slants etc......????? Strangely enough when I entered safe mode all my files etc were in English, however, when I tried to open them, nothing appeared in the Word document on display ?? I have emailed some of the documents I want to keep to another machine. That worked okay but its gonna take a while. Is there anything (outwith the control panel language change feature) which would alter what I am seeing on the desktop ?? I really dont want to have to format this disk if I can help it........its lookin more and more like I may have to eh ??

[snowmonkey]

I would put the Windows XP Cd in the drive and run the repair install if I were you...

my ½ cents worth


cheers