Ticket Options
Question Profile
| DATE | Feb 18, 2007 |
| TICKET | #333291 |
| STATUS | Closed |
| SUBJECT | Safari display problem |
| CAT | Computers, Operating Systems, Applications or Connected Devices |
| TYPE | Software Applications |
| DESC | Other Software |
| DESC | |
| PLATFORM | Apple Macintosh (PowerPC G3,G4,G5) |
| MODEL | iMac G5 |
| PROC | 1.3G? |
| RAM | 1 Gig |
| DRIVE | 160? |
| NAME | Alan |
| USERNAME | AlanL |
| TECHNICAL | Lots of Experience |
| ISSUE | Some Troubleshooting |
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Safari display problem
AlanL - Feb 18, 2007 - 6:11 am
I have a display problem with Safari, on certain sites, on my iMac at work. Some of the text displays as gobbledygook - it looks like some sort of Indonesian text. I seem to have all normal settings on the Appearance settings in Safari preferences. I don't have the problem on my smaller earlier iMac at home.Can you helpl?
AlanL - Feb 19, 2007 - 7:19 am
On closer inspection it's not like Indonesian text but is actually a load of small numbers all bunched up on top of each other. Can I send a screenshot?
The processor speed is actually 1.8Ghz.
The processor speed is actually 1.8Ghz.
dl33 - Feb 19, 2007 - 9:36 am
you can send a screenshot now. There should be an upload button somewhere under this paragraph...;-)
I assume that this is a font-issue. Try to open FONT BOOk (in your utilities folder) and check whether any of the system fonts are disabled. If you need more instructions on this, don't hesitate to ask.
I assume that this is a font-issue. Try to open FONT BOOk (in your utilities folder) and check whether any of the system fonts are disabled. If you need more instructions on this, don't hesitate to ask.
AlanL - Feb 20, 2007 - 8:52 am
Some fonts were disabled so I enabled them but the problem persists.:-(
Is there a set list of system fonts that I always need to have enabled
Wikipedia is one of the sites affected.
I don't see an upload button anywhere.
Is there a set list of system fonts that I always need to have enabled
Wikipedia is one of the sites affected.
I don't see an upload button anywhere.
AlanL - Feb 20, 2007 - 10:08 am
Some fonts were disabled so I enabled them but the problem persists.:-(
Is there a set list of system fonts that I always need to have enabled
Wikipedia is one of the sites affected.
I don't see an upload button anywhere.
Is there a set list of system fonts that I always need to have enabled
Wikipedia is one of the sites affected.
I don't see an upload button anywhere.
dl33 - Feb 20, 2007 - 2:49 pm
a couple of steps to take: (don't worry about the upload button)
- Repair permissions on your system partition. (Use the app DISK UTILITY in your Utilities folder, select your hd and press the button "Repair permissions")
- Make sure that you have the standard fonts selected in Safari: Open the Appearance tab in the Safari preferences. The standard font and fixed width font should be Times 16 and Courier 13, respectivly.
- Make sure that you have all fonts in the "Computer" section of font book installed and enabled. Specifically make sure that you have enabled Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Times, Times New Roman, Courier and Courier New.
If the problem still persists, let me know,
dl33
- Repair permissions on your system partition. (Use the app DISK UTILITY in your Utilities folder, select your hd and press the button "Repair permissions")
- Make sure that you have the standard fonts selected in Safari: Open the Appearance tab in the Safari preferences. The standard font and fixed width font should be Times 16 and Courier 13, respectivly.
- Make sure that you have all fonts in the "Computer" section of font book installed and enabled. Specifically make sure that you have enabled Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Times, Times New Roman, Courier and Courier New.
If the problem still persists, let me know,
dl33
AlanL - Feb 21, 2007 - 4:48 am
Thank for your help but I have done all that and still no change. :-[
Any other suggestions?
Any other suggestions?
dl33 - Feb 21, 2007 - 10:38 am
I think I might just have to see a screenshot... Since the upload function on this site seems to have dissappeared, could you try and upload your screenshot using http://imageshack.us/ ?
If this leaves me clueless, I will pass you back to the pool...
dl33
If this leaves me clueless, I will pass you back to the pool...
dl33
AlanL - Feb 21, 2007 - 11:32 am
I have uploaded a screenshot to imageshack. I am not familiar with this site so accidentally uploaded it a few times. The image is called Safari Display Prob.
The link is
Is this sufficient info for you?
You seem to come to work while I'm clocking off - have a nice day. :-) and thanks again. I am off home now. May talk later from there.
The link is
Is this sufficient info for you?
You seem to come to work while I'm clocking off - have a nice day. :-) and thanks again. I am off home now. May talk later from there.
dl33 - Feb 21, 2007 - 11:41 am
ok.... Now that I see it, I think that I had something similar before, only with a different font.
Can you still select text on wikipedia?
If yes; then you have a font installed that consists out of numbers. For one or the other reason this font is being used by safari. You will have to open FontBook, find this particular font, and then disable it... I hope you do not have too many fonts as this might take some time...
If you need any assistance, let me know.. I will try and find out the name on of the font in the meantime, as this might save you some searching...
Can you still select text on wikipedia?
If yes; then you have a font installed that consists out of numbers. For one or the other reason this font is being used by safari. You will have to open FontBook, find this particular font, and then disable it... I hope you do not have too many fonts as this might take some time...
If you need any assistance, let me know.. I will try and find out the name on of the font in the meantime, as this might save you some searching...
AlanL - Feb 21, 2007 - 12:35 pm
Yes, I can select text in Wikipedia and paste it into another document where it comes out as normal legible text.
OK, great, I will search the fonts when I'm back at work in the morning. Thanks again for the tip, will let you know how I get on.
OK, great, I will search the fonts when I'm back at work in the morning. Thanks again for the tip, will let you know how I get on.
AlanL - Feb 22, 2007 - 5:16 pm
Thursday: Very busy, didn't get around to checking the fonts today, will try tomorrow.
AlanL - Feb 23, 2007 - 11:17 am
Hi again,
Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the problem. I checked my fonts and none of them seem to consist of just numbers.
Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the problem. I checked my fonts and none of them seem to consist of just numbers.
dl33 - Feb 24, 2007 - 6:47 am
i am sorry i couldn't be of any help, I'll pass you back to the pool
AlanL - Feb 24, 2007 - 9:13 am
I would very much appreciate if there is anybody there who can help me.
AlanL - Feb 26, 2007 - 11:07 am
Hello, anyone out there got any suggestions?
AlanL - Feb 28, 2007 - 9:14 am
Hello! Earth to tech support..
AlanL - Mar 2, 2007 - 7:17 am
HAVE I BEEN ABANDONED?
Cheryl - Mar 4, 2007 - 8:24 am
Alan,
No, you have not been abandoned. We are all volunteers and get to the site when we can. There are a couple of things to check in order to correct this problem.
First: go to Home>Library>Cache. Locate the Safari folder and open it. You will see many files with numbers as names. Delete all of those files and empty the trash.
Next, go to Home>Library>Preferences. In Preferences go to the View menu and select by list. This will put everything in alpha order making it easier to find files. Locate the com.apple.safari.plist file and drag it to the trash. Empty the trash.
Now go to System Preferences (light switch in dock) and select International. In the Language section you should see a list of languages. English should be the first on the list. If not, locate it and use your mouse to drag it to the top of the list.
Now close the System Preferences window and give Safari and those web site a try out.
Let me know how you do.
Cheryl
No, you have not been abandoned. We are all volunteers and get to the site when we can. There are a couple of things to check in order to correct this problem.
First: go to Home>Library>Cache. Locate the Safari folder and open it. You will see many files with numbers as names. Delete all of those files and empty the trash.
Next, go to Home>Library>Preferences. In Preferences go to the View menu and select by list. This will put everything in alpha order making it easier to find files. Locate the com.apple.safari.plist file and drag it to the trash. Empty the trash.
Now go to System Preferences (light switch in dock) and select International. In the Language section you should see a list of languages. English should be the first on the list. If not, locate it and use your mouse to drag it to the top of the list.
Now close the System Preferences window and give Safari and those web site a try out.
Let me know how you do.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 4, 2007 - 10:51 am
Hi Cheryl,
Many thanks for your response - I wasn't quite sure what was happening my case or how it worked. I will try those things when I go into work tomorrow and will, of course, let you know how I get on.
Are you the same Cheryl that helped me a year or two ago when I had a "blocky photos in browser" problem? If so, thanks a mil and hats off to all you volunteers. You're doing a great job; it's wonderful that there are people like you out there to help get us out of a jam. Kind Regards,
Alan.
Many thanks for your response - I wasn't quite sure what was happening my case or how it worked. I will try those things when I go into work tomorrow and will, of course, let you know how I get on.
Are you the same Cheryl that helped me a year or two ago when I had a "blocky photos in browser" problem? If so, thanks a mil and hats off to all you volunteers. You're doing a great job; it's wonderful that there are people like you out there to help get us out of a jam. Kind Regards,
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 4, 2007 - 4:03 pm
Alan,
I am the only Cheryl here, so it must have been me. And thanks for the good words.
Keep me posted.
Cheryl
I am the only Cheryl here, so it must have been me. And thanks for the good words.
Keep me posted.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 5, 2007 - 5:13 am
Hi Cheryl,
Unfortunately, I have done all you advised and there is still no change. I also did a font inspection and repair with Font Doctor to no avail.
Some clues: Safari takes nearly a minute to load now whereas it only took seconds before this problem (as it does on my Mac at home) and also a friend told me to leave the computer on overnight to let it run some scripts and the next morning Safari loaded quickly and Wikipedia page looked OK at first but problem quickly re-appeared.
Unfortunately, I have done all you advised and there is still no change. I also did a font inspection and repair with Font Doctor to no avail.
Some clues: Safari takes nearly a minute to load now whereas it only took seconds before this problem (as it does on my Mac at home) and also a friend told me to leave the computer on overnight to let it run some scripts and the next morning Safari loaded quickly and Wikipedia page looked OK at first but problem quickly re-appeared.
Cheryl - Mar 5, 2007 - 7:37 am
Alan,
Your description gives me more to troubleshoot with. Leaving the computer running overnight allows the system to do its maintenance jobs. There are nightly, weekly and monthly jobs to clear out files and logs that you and I can not do manually.
Go to : http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9633
and download Macaroni. Once downloaded and installed, start it up and have it do those jobs. Now you can set it to do these jobs when you start up the computer. I use it on my machine at work.
Next, log out of the computer, then log back in.
Now open Safari. Go to the Safari menu and select Preferences. In the Advance tab, make sure the Universal Access boxes are unchecked and Style Sheet is set to None.
Now give Safari a try and keep me posted.
Cheryl
Your description gives me more to troubleshoot with. Leaving the computer running overnight allows the system to do its maintenance jobs. There are nightly, weekly and monthly jobs to clear out files and logs that you and I can not do manually.
Go to : http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9633
and download Macaroni. Once downloaded and installed, start it up and have it do those jobs. Now you can set it to do these jobs when you start up the computer. I use it on my machine at work.
Next, log out of the computer, then log back in.
Now open Safari. Go to the Safari menu and select Preferences. In the Advance tab, make sure the Universal Access boxes are unchecked and Style Sheet is set to None.
Now give Safari a try and keep me posted.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 6, 2007 - 11:11 am
Cheryl,
I have done all that but still to no avail, unfortunately. Safari problem is still the same.
Now I have an additional problem — I don't know if it's related; there was a read error in Entourage and I was told to rebuild the database, but there was also an error in attempting this, with the result that I lost all my past messages and attachments. Are these recoverable? It doesn't look like they are.
I have done all that but still to no avail, unfortunately. Safari problem is still the same.
Now I have an additional problem — I don't know if it's related; there was a read error in Entourage and I was told to rebuild the database, but there was also an error in attempting this, with the result that I lost all my past messages and attachments. Are these recoverable? It doesn't look like they are.
AlanL - Mar 6, 2007 - 11:13 am
Is it possible to re-install Safari from somewhere?
AlanL - Mar 6, 2007 - 11:22 am
I just re-started my Mac and had a brief glimpse of one of the "bad" sites showing proper text rather than numbers, but the text was all bunched up too closely. Then it reverted to the usual numbers bunched up.
Cheryl - Mar 6, 2007 - 6:02 pm
Alan,
It could be just Safari that is screwed up. Did you install any debugger program or enhancements to your system? That might be what is causing the problem.
First try this:
start up with the OS X CD (10.4) - insert disk, restart the computer and immediately hold down the C key.
When it starts up, click your language.
Now do not click on the installer screen. Instead go to the Utility/Tools menu and select Disk utility.
When that opens click on the second icon in the side bar at the left, then click on Repair Disk at the bottom right.
Watch the activity screen. If it does any repairs - you will need to click on the Repair Disk button a second time after the first pass is done. The object is to make sure it finds all the problems and repairs them. You may need to hit that button a third or fourth time to get no references to repairs made.
Now click on Repair Permissions.
When that is done, quit Disk utility and restart the computer.
Now give Safari a try.
You can just reinstall Safari. But you need the program Pacifist to do that.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6812
Now you need your OS 10.4 install disk.
First, go to Hard Drive>Library>Receipts.
Trash the Safari.pkg file.
Empty the trash.
Startup Pacifist, then insert your OS X CD Disk 1.
Now in the Pacifist window click on Open Package.
You want to Extract Safari from the OS install. Doing a find will locate it faster.
Once you have found the file, install the files to their default locations on the main hard disk where the Installer would place them, choose “Install Files to Default Locations” from the File menu.
Now quit Pacifist and give Safari a try.
Let me know how you do.
Cheryl
It could be just Safari that is screwed up. Did you install any debugger program or enhancements to your system? That might be what is causing the problem.
First try this:
start up with the OS X CD (10.4) - insert disk, restart the computer and immediately hold down the C key.
When it starts up, click your language.
Now do not click on the installer screen. Instead go to the Utility/Tools menu and select Disk utility.
When that opens click on the second icon in the side bar at the left, then click on Repair Disk at the bottom right.
Watch the activity screen. If it does any repairs - you will need to click on the Repair Disk button a second time after the first pass is done. The object is to make sure it finds all the problems and repairs them. You may need to hit that button a third or fourth time to get no references to repairs made.
Now click on Repair Permissions.
When that is done, quit Disk utility and restart the computer.
Now give Safari a try.
You can just reinstall Safari. But you need the program Pacifist to do that.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6812
Now you need your OS 10.4 install disk.
First, go to Hard Drive>Library>Receipts.
Trash the Safari.pkg file.
Empty the trash.
Startup Pacifist, then insert your OS X CD Disk 1.
Now in the Pacifist window click on Open Package.
You want to Extract Safari from the OS install. Doing a find will locate it faster.
Once you have found the file, install the files to their default locations on the main hard disk where the Installer would place them, choose “Install Files to Default Locations” from the File menu.
Now quit Pacifist and give Safari a try.
Let me know how you do.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 7, 2007 - 11:05 am
Hi Cheryl,
I did all that, downloaded Pacifist etc., (with some difficulty) but I cannot find a Safari.pkg on my system disc. My OS is 10.3.9 so don't have a 10.4 disc. I downloaded Safari separately from other sites but my Mac won't let me re-install it. When I direct it to download to the hard disc I get a red exclamation mark and the warning:" This system cannot use this software." I tried re-installing an update for Safari 1.3.2, which is the version I have currently. Incidentally, there wasn't a Safari.pkg in the Receipts folder, just a SafariUpdate 1.3.2.pkg.
I am at my wit's end at this stage as I'm sure you are.
Regards,
Alan.
I did all that, downloaded Pacifist etc., (with some difficulty) but I cannot find a Safari.pkg on my system disc. My OS is 10.3.9 so don't have a 10.4 disc. I downloaded Safari separately from other sites but my Mac won't let me re-install it. When I direct it to download to the hard disc I get a red exclamation mark and the warning:" This system cannot use this software." I tried re-installing an update for Safari 1.3.2, which is the version I have currently. Incidentally, there wasn't a Safari.pkg in the Receipts folder, just a SafariUpdate 1.3.2.pkg.
I am at my wit's end at this stage as I'm sure you are.
Regards,
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 7, 2007 - 5:38 pm
Alan,
Safari should be on the 10.3 Install disk. You can not use an update disk. You need the full install disk.
You can try downloading Safari 1.2 from here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/safari.html
Then download the Safari 1.3.2 update from here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...update132.html
Now before you try to install, you need to delete all the Safari from your computer.
Hard Disk>Library>Receipts - all files with Safari in the name
Applications - the Safari icon
Home>Library>Caches - the Safari folder
Home>Library>Caches>Metadata - the Safari folder
Home>Library>Preferences - com.apple.safari.plist file
In Home>Library drag the Safari folder to your desktop. This folder holds your bookmarks and preferences. You want to save those.
Now install the Safari 1.2 and then the Update.
You should be back to business now.
If all that fails (or your system refuses to install) I highly recommend you do an archive and preserve install.
Start up from your Mac OS X Install Disc 1 or Install DVD. If you have different versions of Mac OS X Installer discs (for example, if your computer came with version 10.3 and you later purchased and installed version 10.4), start from the disc that most closely matches the installed Mac OS X version. Usually, that's the latest (newer) version.
Select your language. The Welcome to the Mac OS X Installer window appears.
Click Continue. The Important Information window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue. The Software License Agreement window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue.
An agreement sheet appears. If you agree with the license agreement, click Agree. The Select a Destination window appears.
Click the volume that you wish to install to.
Click Options. The installation options sheet appears.
Select Archive and Install.
Select the volume which already has Mac OS X installed.
You should also select Preserve Users and Network Settings, to preserve network and Home directory settings.
Click OK.
Click Continue to begin the installation.
You will have a second folder on your hard drive called Previous system. This you can delete after you have checked all your programs to make sure they work. All your other applications that you have installed will be there. The installer will install fresh copies of only Apple applications.
Now you can go to:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...pdate1039.html
to install the 10.3.9 combo update.
Once done, go to Utilities>Disk Utility and use that to repair permissions.
You should be back in working order now. Please keep me posted on how you do.
Cheryl
Safari should be on the 10.3 Install disk. You can not use an update disk. You need the full install disk.
You can try downloading Safari 1.2 from here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/safari.html
Then download the Safari 1.3.2 update from here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...update132.html
Now before you try to install, you need to delete all the Safari from your computer.
Hard Disk>Library>Receipts - all files with Safari in the name
Applications - the Safari icon
Home>Library>Caches - the Safari folder
Home>Library>Caches>Metadata - the Safari folder
Home>Library>Preferences - com.apple.safari.plist file
In Home>Library drag the Safari folder to your desktop. This folder holds your bookmarks and preferences. You want to save those.
Now install the Safari 1.2 and then the Update.
You should be back to business now.
If all that fails (or your system refuses to install) I highly recommend you do an archive and preserve install.
Start up from your Mac OS X Install Disc 1 or Install DVD. If you have different versions of Mac OS X Installer discs (for example, if your computer came with version 10.3 and you later purchased and installed version 10.4), start from the disc that most closely matches the installed Mac OS X version. Usually, that's the latest (newer) version.
Select your language. The Welcome to the Mac OS X Installer window appears.
Click Continue. The Important Information window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue. The Software License Agreement window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue.
An agreement sheet appears. If you agree with the license agreement, click Agree. The Select a Destination window appears.
Click the volume that you wish to install to.
Click Options. The installation options sheet appears.
Select Archive and Install.
Select the volume which already has Mac OS X installed.
You should also select Preserve Users and Network Settings, to preserve network and Home directory settings.
Click OK.
Click Continue to begin the installation.
You will have a second folder on your hard drive called Previous system. This you can delete after you have checked all your programs to make sure they work. All your other applications that you have installed will be there. The installer will install fresh copies of only Apple applications.
Now you can go to:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...pdate1039.html
to install the 10.3.9 combo update.
Once done, go to Utilities>Disk Utility and use that to repair permissions.
You should be back in working order now. Please keep me posted on how you do.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 8, 2007 - 11:04 am
HI Cheryl,
Wow, that was a bit of an ordeal but I finally re-installed Safari and did an Archive & Preserve install. Hopefully all programmes are working OK - haven't had a chance to try them all yet. Tried to install Safari update but I have to update to OS X 103.9 first. Will do that tomorrow.
When I first opened Safari after the OS X reinstall I went first to a "bad" site and for the first time it was completely legible and stayed that way, so then I went to Wikipedia, another "bad" site, but unfortunately, it was still displaying badly. I returned to the first site and it was now displaying badly too.
More fun tomorrow.
Incidentally, I now have another problem - I don't know if it's related but it has just happened. I got a "read error" in Entourage and suddenly couldn't open the programme. I had to take out the database (which was a whopping 1.99GB) and when I restarted Entourage all my messages and attachments were gone. I could re-import all my contacts but not my messages.
Is there any way of retrieving them from the corrupted database?
Many thanks for sticking with me through thick and thin.
Regards,
Alan.
Wow, that was a bit of an ordeal but I finally re-installed Safari and did an Archive & Preserve install. Hopefully all programmes are working OK - haven't had a chance to try them all yet. Tried to install Safari update but I have to update to OS X 103.9 first. Will do that tomorrow.
When I first opened Safari after the OS X reinstall I went first to a "bad" site and for the first time it was completely legible and stayed that way, so then I went to Wikipedia, another "bad" site, but unfortunately, it was still displaying badly. I returned to the first site and it was now displaying badly too.
More fun tomorrow.
Incidentally, I now have another problem - I don't know if it's related but it has just happened. I got a "read error" in Entourage and suddenly couldn't open the programme. I had to take out the database (which was a whopping 1.99GB) and when I restarted Entourage all my messages and attachments were gone. I could re-import all my contacts but not my messages.
Is there any way of retrieving them from the corrupted database?
Many thanks for sticking with me through thick and thin.
Regards,
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 8, 2007 - 10:47 pm
Alan,
I am puzzled by the Wikipedia site. Before going to any other web site, Open Safari, and then go to the Safari Menu and select Preferences.
When that window opens, go to Security and click on show cookies.
When that opens, click on remove all, then done.
Now give some of those bad sites a try out.
As for Entourage, I am not savvy in that program. It would be best if you created a new ticket on that so a tech with that knowledge can help you.
Cheryl
I am puzzled by the Wikipedia site. Before going to any other web site, Open Safari, and then go to the Safari Menu and select Preferences.
When that window opens, go to Security and click on show cookies.
When that opens, click on remove all, then done.
Now give some of those bad sites a try out.
As for Entourage, I am not savvy in that program. It would be best if you created a new ticket on that so a tech with that knowledge can help you.
Cheryl
- Mar 9, 2007 - 5:40 am
Cheryl,
I have upgraded OS X to 10.3.9 and updated Safari to 1.3.2, removed all cookies, as advised but, unbelievably, the problem is still there. This really is a stinker.
Alan
I have upgraded OS X to 10.3.9 and updated Safari to 1.3.2, removed all cookies, as advised but, unbelievably, the problem is still there. This really is a stinker.
Alan
- Mar 9, 2007 - 5:40 am
Cheryl,
I have upgraded OS X to 10.3.9 and updated Safari to 1.3.2, removed all cookies, as advised but, unbelievably, the problem is still there. This really is a stinker.
Alan
I have upgraded OS X to 10.3.9 and updated Safari to 1.3.2, removed all cookies, as advised but, unbelievably, the problem is still there. This really is a stinker.
Alan
AlanL - Mar 9, 2007 - 10:43 am
Hey Cheryl,
You're not going to believe this but Safari has suddenly, magically fixed itself. Wahaaay, Hallelujah.
I have no idea why. The only recent things I did, that might have had a bearing, are: I dumped a time expired demo version of an OCR programme called ReadIrisPro and I had to reinstall printer drivers for our Docucolor 250. They seem unlikely causes but hey, who cares at this stage, although it would be nice to know.
Well, Cheryl, thanks a million times for all your good work and persistence. I am sure some of the things you suggested had a bearing on the case. Good luck and thanks again.
Your loyal fan,
Alan.
You're not going to believe this but Safari has suddenly, magically fixed itself. Wahaaay, Hallelujah.
I have no idea why. The only recent things I did, that might have had a bearing, are: I dumped a time expired demo version of an OCR programme called ReadIrisPro and I had to reinstall printer drivers for our Docucolor 250. They seem unlikely causes but hey, who cares at this stage, although it would be nice to know.
Well, Cheryl, thanks a million times for all your good work and persistence. I am sure some of the things you suggested had a bearing on the case. Good luck and thanks again.
Your loyal fan,
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 9, 2007 - 4:54 pm
Alan,
It could be the OCR that caused the problems - a conflict with one of the files in the system. In any case, I am sure glad everything is back to normal.
Cheryl
It could be the OCR that caused the problems - a conflict with one of the files in the system. In any case, I am sure glad everything is back to normal.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 12, 2007 - 11:17 am
Cheryl,
I'm embarrassed to say this but my Safari display problem has come back and is just as bad as ever. Can you possibly help again? It's completely understandable if you want to hand it over to someone else.
Incidentally, I won't be here for the next two days, so will leave it till Thursday before I contact your site again, after today.
Apologies,
Alan.
I'm embarrassed to say this but my Safari display problem has come back and is just as bad as ever. Can you possibly help again? It's completely understandable if you want to hand it over to someone else.
Incidentally, I won't be here for the next two days, so will leave it till Thursday before I contact your site again, after today.
Apologies,
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 12, 2007 - 6:12 pm
Alan,
Have you tried removing all the cache files and cookies? What have you installed or used just before this came back?
The system will close the ticket automatically after three days of no activity. I will do my best to watch and not allow the ticket to close.
Cheryl
Have you tried removing all the cache files and cookies? What have you installed or used just before this came back?
The system will close the ticket automatically after three days of no activity. I will do my best to watch and not allow the ticket to close.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 13, 2007 - 1:48 pm
HI Cheryl,
I had deleted all the cookies previously, as you advised. I will do it again, along with the caches, when I get back to the office on Thursday.
I haven't installed anything since. I'm not sure of all of the programmes I have used, but probably Illustrator, Photoshop, In Design, Quark Xpress, Acrobat, Word, possibly Excel, Entourage, Stickies, Suitcase, Preview, Acrobat Reader and a Fiery Rip for Docucolor 250, Drag Thing and Keychain Access - possibly not all of those, but most.
Alan.
I had deleted all the cookies previously, as you advised. I will do it again, along with the caches, when I get back to the office on Thursday.
I haven't installed anything since. I'm not sure of all of the programmes I have used, but probably Illustrator, Photoshop, In Design, Quark Xpress, Acrobat, Word, possibly Excel, Entourage, Stickies, Suitcase, Preview, Acrobat Reader and a Fiery Rip for Docucolor 250, Drag Thing and Keychain Access - possibly not all of those, but most.
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 13, 2007 - 5:25 pm
Alan,
Do you have a different browser installed on your machine - like SeaMonkey, iCab, Camino, or FireFox? If you do, try using that for that web site that is coming out strange. Does it come up correctly or all scrambled?
Cheryl
Do you have a different browser installed on your machine - like SeaMonkey, iCab, Camino, or FireFox? If you do, try using that for that web site that is coming out strange. Does it come up correctly or all scrambled?
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 13, 2007 - 5:47 pm
Cheryl,
I'm not sure - I may have Camino. If I have, I've never used it. Will look on Thursday. Maybe I can download it from somewhere.
Alan.
I'm not sure - I may have Camino. If I have, I've never used it. Will look on Thursday. Maybe I can download it from somewhere.
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 13, 2007 - 5:56 pm
Alan,
You can download it from
http://www.macupdate.com
Just type in Camino in the search box at the top of the page. It will give you a direct link.
I am trying to figure out if this is your computer or just Safari.
My next suggestion is to create a new user from System Preferences>Accounts. Allow the new user to be an Administrator to the computer, then give Safari a try.
Cheryl
You can download it from
http://www.macupdate.com
Just type in Camino in the search box at the top of the page. It will give you a direct link.
I am trying to figure out if this is your computer or just Safari.
My next suggestion is to create a new user from System Preferences>Accounts. Allow the new user to be an Administrator to the computer, then give Safari a try.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 14, 2007 - 12:14 pm
OK, thanks, Cheryl, will try out those suggestions tomorrow.
Alan.
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 14, 2007 - 10:56 pm
Alan,
Keep me posted.
Cheryl
Keep me posted.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 15, 2007 - 11:40 am
Cheryl,
Some more good clues for you — the "bad" sites work fine on both Camino on the main account and on Safari on a new user account. I've thrown out the caches as before. Does that delete the cookies as well?
Alan.
Some more good clues for you — the "bad" sites work fine on both Camino on the main account and on Safari on a new user account. I've thrown out the caches as before. Does that delete the cookies as well?
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 15, 2007 - 9:53 pm
Alan,
No, Cookies are in a separate folder. Your best bet is to remove all the cookies from Safari Preferences>Security.
Also - try deleting the preference file of Safari. That is in Home>Library>Preferences. The file is called com.apple.safari.plist
One more place to delete files is in Home>Library>Caches>Metadata. There should be a Safari folder in there. Delete all the files in the Safari folder.
Cheryl
No, Cookies are in a separate folder. Your best bet is to remove all the cookies from Safari Preferences>Security.
Also - try deleting the preference file of Safari. That is in Home>Library>Preferences. The file is called com.apple.safari.plist
One more place to delete files is in Home>Library>Caches>Metadata. There should be a Safari folder in there. Delete all the files in the Safari folder.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 16, 2007 - 12:04 pm
Cheryl,
OK, I've removed all cookies and deleted preferences and repaired permissions again for good measure. I don't have a metadata folder.
But the display problem is still there. It's strange that it's
OK on a 2nd user account, isn't it? Isn't that the same Safari?
Alan.
OK, I've removed all cookies and deleted preferences and repaired permissions again for good measure. I don't have a metadata folder.
But the display problem is still there. It's strange that it's
OK on a 2nd user account, isn't it? Isn't that the same Safari?
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 17, 2007 - 9:14 am
Alan,
Yes, it is the same Safari. This tells me that there is a file somewhere within your home library that is causing the problem. Let me do some searching for the culprit and I will get back to you.
Cheryl
Yes, it is the same Safari. This tells me that there is a file somewhere within your home library that is causing the problem. Let me do some searching for the culprit and I will get back to you.
Cheryl
Cheryl - Mar 17, 2007 - 1:10 pm
Alan,
I have an idea that just might solve this. Go to Home>Library>Fonts. Some installers will install fonts in there rather than in the system's font folder.
Look for Helvetica Fractions and Times Phonetic and if you have them drag them out of the folder and on the desktop for the time being.
Now log out from the Apple Menu Log Out.
You will be brought to the log in window. Now log back in.
Give Safari a test run.
If it is still there, check one more thing. With Safari up front, go to the View menu and see what you have selected in Text Encoding. If you have it in Default, try Unicode. If it is on Unicode, try Default. This is a hit or miss, but it is worth the try.
Cheryl
I have an idea that just might solve this. Go to Home>Library>Fonts. Some installers will install fonts in there rather than in the system's font folder.
Look for Helvetica Fractions and Times Phonetic and if you have them drag them out of the folder and on the desktop for the time being.
Now log out from the Apple Menu Log Out.
You will be brought to the log in window. Now log back in.
Give Safari a test run.
If it is still there, check one more thing. With Safari up front, go to the View menu and see what you have selected in Text Encoding. If you have it in Default, try Unicode. If it is on Unicode, try Default. This is a hit or miss, but it is worth the try.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 19, 2007 - 8:01 am
Hi Cheryl,
It's a holiday here today so I won't be back in work till tomorrow. I will check out those fonts and try those suggestions then. Thanks again for being so patient; talk to you tomorrow.
Alan.
It's a holiday here today so I won't be back in work till tomorrow. I will check out those fonts and try those suggestions then. Thanks again for being so patient; talk to you tomorrow.
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 19, 2007 - 5:50 pm
Alan,
Let me know how you do. I am hoping that this will correct the issue.
Cheryl
Let me know how you do. I am hoping that this will correct the issue.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 20, 2007 - 9:37 am
Sorry, Cheryl,
Ain't got none of those fonts loaded and I have switched the text encoding with no effect. :-[
Alan.
Ain't got none of those fonts loaded and I have switched the text encoding with no effect. :-[
Alan.
AlanL - Mar 20, 2007 - 12:29 pm
Hi Cheryl,
It's a holiday here today so I won't be back in work till tomorrow. I will check out those fonts and try those suggestions then. Thanks again for being so patient; talk to you tomorrow.
Alan.
It's a holiday here today so I won't be back in work till tomorrow. I will check out those fonts and try those suggestions then. Thanks again for being so patient; talk to you tomorrow.
Alan.
Cheryl - Mar 20, 2007 - 9:04 pm
Alan,
I am stumped. I have run out of ideas. I am going to reopen this ticket for another tech to help you.
Cheryl
I am stumped. I have run out of ideas. I am going to reopen this ticket for another tech to help you.
Cheryl
AlanL - Mar 21, 2007 - 6:13 am
Cheryl,
I don't blame you; it's a real puzzler. Thanks for all your patience and persistence.
Alan.
I don't blame you; it's a real puzzler. Thanks for all your patience and persistence.
Alan.
Jabberwocky - Mar 21, 2007 - 6:37 am
I've had this problem before and it was caused by corruptions in the font cache.
Fonts are cached for immediate and future use as they are activated by an application and they are managed by that application.
Sometimes an individual cache become corrupt but because that cache file relates to only one application, you will only see the problem manifest in that application - this is why you can copy the weird text from Safari into Word and it looks fine.
Use a tool like FONT NUKE (http://homepage.mac.com/jpietry/apps/fontnuke/) or FONT FINAGLER (http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/fontfinagler/) to clear the font cache for Safari.
Once you have done this, restart your Mac. After restart, login and try again, and as Safari calls the required fonts, new cache files will be created.
Fonts are cached for immediate and future use as they are activated by an application and they are managed by that application.
Sometimes an individual cache become corrupt but because that cache file relates to only one application, you will only see the problem manifest in that application - this is why you can copy the weird text from Safari into Word and it looks fine.
Use a tool like FONT NUKE (http://homepage.mac.com/jpietry/apps/fontnuke/) or FONT FINAGLER (http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/fontfinagler/) to clear the font cache for Safari.
Once you have done this, restart your Mac. After restart, login and try again, and as Safari calls the required fonts, new cache files will be created.
AlanL - Mar 21, 2007 - 11:46 am
Hi,
Thanks for your help but I installed FontFinagler and cleaned the cache twice with it, but to no avail, as the problem is still there. I can't try FontNuke as it is just for Tiger and I have Panther installed.
Is it relevant that the bunched up text is numerical rather than alphabetical?
As I am re-launching Safari, I can tell straightaway if the problem is solved or not, as, if it takes more than 5 seconds to launch, problem persists. It takes about a minute for Safari to load at the moment. Is this relevant?
Alan.
Thanks for your help but I installed FontFinagler and cleaned the cache twice with it, but to no avail, as the problem is still there. I can't try FontNuke as it is just for Tiger and I have Panther installed.
Is it relevant that the bunched up text is numerical rather than alphabetical?
As I am re-launching Safari, I can tell straightaway if the problem is solved or not, as, if it takes more than 5 seconds to launch, problem persists. It takes about a minute for Safari to load at the moment. Is this relevant?
Alan.
Jabberwocky - Mar 21, 2007 - 12:55 pm
Did you restart the machine after clearing the Font cache? That is important.
Can you login as a different user? Or create yourself a different user account and login woth that? You will find is that you don't see the problem with the different user account - the problem is specific to your user.
What you are seeing is the machine's attempt to render the fonts based on the information provided by the cache. Because it is corrupt, it presents the wrong information.
Can you login as a different user? Or create yourself a different user account and login woth that? You will find is that you don't see the problem with the different user account - the problem is specific to your user.
What you are seeing is the machine's attempt to render the fonts based on the information provided by the cache. Because it is corrupt, it presents the wrong information.
AlanL - Mar 21, 2007 - 1:50 pm
Yes, I did restart the machine after clearing the font cache.
Is there any way I can copy the cache, or other necesary files, from the second user account and paste them into the first user account cache.
Alan.
Is there any way I can copy the cache, or other necesary files, from the second user account and paste them into the first user account cache.
Alan.
Jabberwocky - Mar 21, 2007 - 6:00 pm
No, you should only need to delete them, as they get recreated when you try to access a font from an application
You could try downloading a tool Xupport and running the maintenance scripts, then clear system and application caches on the next tab
You could try downloading a tool Xupport and running the maintenance scripts, then clear system and application caches on the next tab
AlanL - Mar 22, 2007 - 11:50 am
I'm afraid I tried all that and still no fix. The one thing I didn't do is to clear all the log files as it warned me to be careful about doing this. Do you think it is safe to do this?
Jabberwocky - Mar 22, 2007 - 12:06 pm
did you manage to login as a diferent user and see everything displaying ok?
AlanL - Mar 22, 2007 - 1:00 pm
Yes, everything is always fine in safari in the second user account.
AlanL - Mar 23, 2007 - 11:57 am
Hey, I think I've sorted it. Cheryl was on the right track by telling me to remove Helvetica fractions. I don't have fractions but I removed all my Helvetica fonts and Hey, Presto!... problem fixed. Tell Cheryl and thank her again and thank you too for your help.
Best Regards to you all - you're doing a great job.
AlanL
Best Regards to you all - you're doing a great job.
AlanL
Jabberwocky - Mar 23, 2007 - 12:30 pm
Funny, I was going to suggest corrupt fonts but because it had all worked ok for the other user account, I dimissed the idea.
But very happy that you are sorted. It's one to remember!
And a gold star for Cheryl.
But very happy that you are sorted. It's one to remember!
And a gold star for Cheryl.
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