IE won't display serif font

[enat66]

I visit certain sites like ebay and amazon.com and the description of the items is in a font that looks like a mix of boxes and wingdings.


I've traced it to the font serif....it never displays right in Internet Explorer, question is, how do I fix it? (it works in Firefox)

For example:
<font face=serif> This won't show on my IE but it will on Mozilla Firefox </font>

I tried an IE repair.

[Jonesy]

Here's what I would do...
Start with IE
Clear all cookies and delete your temporary internet files.

In IE, go to Tools>Options>General(tab) and Click on Fonts. Make sure your language script is Latin Based. Then below, there are two boxes to select, make sure that you have the fonts you want selected like Arial for a sans serif font.

What I would do next is test your existing san serif font in WordPad and see if there may be some funny business going on. If it's ok, I would almost suspect a virus. Run a updated virus scan. Or run a scan from www.TrendMicro.com (http://www.TrendMicro.com)

If you still have the difficulty. I would run a new setup on IE6.

That's all I can think of for now.

Jonesy

[enat66]

Thank you, I tried changing the set fonts in IE and it didn't work, I did find, however, that if I tell IE to ignore all the font style settings the website has it will show up. I have no serif font in wordpad to test to see if it is broken. (I tried to find MS serif, serif, or sans serif, not there)

I'll run a virus scan but I ran one recently and it was clean.

Thanks

[Jonesy]

I'm glad you got that fixed!

I had a great reply on Window's fonts done and when I submitted it ... poof I was asked to log in again.

I looked for MS Serif etc via WordPad and could not find it on my toolbar pulldown but I could in Format>Font ... Picklist

Tried Word 2002, could not find fonts at all. Windows start>settings>control panel>fonts ... found them. Forgot to mention that they are not TrueType fonts. That means you may not see them in apps.

Windows used to give you the option to toggle them on and off for apps. Not in 98SE ... I would bet that you can't anymore on the later versions. All our other O/S pc's are off right now or I would check. The more stuff I buy from Mickey Soft the less I see me with the locus of control (the software won't let you do things).

I've been at this game since the days of the punch cards... these forums are great because no one person knows everything.

Cheers
Jonesy

[enat66]

Thanks:)
Both MS Serif and MS Sans Serif work in Wordpad...any ideas on what the problem is?

[Jonesy]

Give this a try... Go to Windows Settings > Add remove programs > Windows Setup

See if you have Multi-Language Support checked. Try unchecking it if it is. Then reboot and test.

You have a skrewy problem there for sure.

Cheers,
Jonesy

[enat66]

You know I think the problem started when I installed some multilanguage support, but it is uncheck now and still nothing...thanks though:)

[Jonesy]

I guess we will beat this little font problem into the ground. I'm doing mud against the wall here.

Have you had a look at your C:\Windows\win.ini file? Double click will open it in Notepad or you can open it in WordPad or Word by right clicking and choosing Open With.

When you have the file open, do a search for the word "subs"

You could find a number of places with font substitution. Check for anything screwy for Arial and Ms Sans Serif

Stuff that is good will look like:

Arial=Helvetica
Helv=MS Sans Serif
Arial (W1)=Arial
Helvetica=Arial
MS Shell Dlg=MS Sans Serif

If that checks out, then we've nocked another possible problem out of the way.

Where I come from ... we are spoiled. If they can't figure it out in 15 minutes, they Ghost the HD. That solves 99% of the problems.

Cheers
Jonesy.

[enat66]

Looks fairly normal to me:

Helv=MS Sans Serif
Tms Rmn=MS Serif
Times=Times New Roman
Helvetica=Arial
MS Shell Dlg=MS Sans Serif
MS Shell Dlg 2=MS Sans Serif
Monotype.com=Andale Mono

Thanks for your help, I want to avoid ghosting the hd if I can lol.

[Jonesy]

Looks like we have exhausted everything. It seems like you have a solution for those two sites anyway.

If it were a serious problem I would dig further. It's going to be one of those "periodical bang on the dash to get the car radio to work things"

Cheers,
Jonesy