IBNobody wrote:
> I primarily use Chrome for my web browser. I noticed that Firefox was
> not displaying pages correctly. For example, Google's main page displays
> blue squares with white backgrounds and white text for
> web/images/videos/maps/etc.
>
> In my investigation, I found that IE6 (which I never use) was having the
> same problem. Likewise, any program that displays HTML (like Skype's
> login screen) shows up garbled.
>
> I've tried uninstalling FF completely. I've tried updating IE6 to IE7.
> I've wiped IE6/7's settings. I've made sure that my IE network settings
> are not set to a proxy. I've made sure my TCP/IP settings are correct. I
> disabled my Windows firewall. I checked my hosts file. I switched DNS
> servers to OpenDNS.
>
> What else can I do, short of nuking my WinXP install?
>
> Clearly, there's a problem with whatever WinXP interface FF and IE use
> to load HTML, but I'm at a loss when it comes to figuring out how to
> solve that.
>
> I'm running WinXP SP3 with the latest patches. I'm 100% malware/spyware
> free. I think it happened when I uninstalled a 3rd party program, months
> ago. I just never noticed because Chrome always worked.
>
>

Boot a Linux LiveCD and use the browser in there to check whether you
have a hardware issue or not. Ubuntu would be around a 700MB
download, and you burn a CD using a program such as Imgburn, to make
the bootable CD. Boot the computer with that CD and retest.

If the squares show up while using Linux, then you know it isn't a hacking
issue. I suppose your router could be hacked, but what would the odds be
of that happening ?

As for web browsers, they generally should not be sharing code. Rendering
should be done by their own engine. But at some point, they have to connect
to the Windows graphics subsystem, and the problem could be at that level.
Testing in a Linux environment, would be telling you whether the lowest
level of hardware works properly.

Paul

On 05/09/2011 22:36, IBNobody wrote:[color=blue]
> Paul;1307452 Wrote:
>> IBNobody wrote:
>> Boot a Linux LiveCD and use the browser in there to check whether you
>> have a hardware issue or not.
>
> I have Ubuntu set up on another partition, and Ubuntu's Firefox works
> fine
>
>
> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>
>> So how is it supposed to look? And how do you know?
>>
>
> I have 4 other computers, all running Firefox and Chrome. This computer
> is the only one that looks wrong.
>
> Here are some examples...
>
> Of Google...
> [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/2ljnrk3.jpg]
>
> Of this website...
> [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/33yot39.jpg]
>
> These were both taken with an install of Firefox 6 with NO addons
> installed.
>
> Here's the logon screen for my *locally installed Skype executable*
> [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/smrtpg.jpg]
>
> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>
>> Then why isn't that a Chrome problem, if every other browser
>> displays the same way, but not like Chrome?
>>
>
> That's what I'd like to know.
>
> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>
>> | Likewise, any program that displays HTML (like Skype's
>> | login screen) shows up garbled.
>> |
>>
>> Displays HTML? At skype.com I see a top panel in garish
>> hues of blue/red/green, and below that I see several marketing
>> blurbs that are all chopped off in the middle. (Is skype.com what
>> you mean by the "login screen"? If you mean the page where you
>> land after clicking "Sign In" then that's not a good example. Anyone
>> who doesn't use Skype won't see the same page that you do.)
>>
>
> Nonono... This is Skype's installed application, not Skype.com. See the
> screenshot above. Skype, and many other installed programs use HTML to
> mark up their UI's.
>
> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>
>> It sounds like you're just dealing with the garden variety problems
>> of webpages. If you really want to get to the bottom of it, post
>> some links to pages with simple code that everyone can visit without
>> signing in, etc. And describe details. (Google, as noted, is a mess.
>> That's not a good example. Skype.com is actually fairly clean,
>> readable code.)
>>
>> You're wasting a lot of time. Why would you re-install XP
>> over webpage display?!
>
> Trust me... It's not a garden variety problem. If it was, it wouldn't
> have thwarted me for as long as it has.
>
> If it would help any, I can go to any website you like and post code.
> Just about every website I go to in FF is funky.
>
>
Check that your Display Properties, Settings tab is set to Highest (32-bit)
and check the other tabs in case you have accidentally set a weird Theme
or changed the Appearance settings.
If they are all OK, Start>Run>dxdiag to check DirectX settings, or just
go here and run the DirectX runtime updater:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35
as it sounds like it could be a rendering engine issue.
Other things to check:
Update graphics card drivers.
Update Java.

HTH
--
Rob

Rob wrote:[color=blue]
> On 05/09/2011 22:36, IBNobody wrote:
>> Paul;1307452 Wrote:
>>> IBNobody wrote:
>>> Boot a Linux LiveCD and use the browser in there to check whether you
>>> have a hardware issue or not.
>> I have Ubuntu set up on another partition, and Ubuntu's Firefox works
>> fine
>>
>>
>> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>> So how is it supposed to look? And how do you know?
>>>
>> I have 4 other computers, all running Firefox and Chrome. This computer
>> is the only one that looks wrong.
>>
>> Here are some examples...
>>
>> Of Google...
>> [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/2ljnrk3.jpg]
>>
>> Of this website...
>> [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/33yot39.jpg]
>>
>> These were both taken with an install of Firefox 6 with NO addons
>> installed.
>>
>> Here's the logon screen for my *locally installed Skype executable*
>> [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/smrtpg.jpg]
>>
>> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>> Then why isn't that a Chrome problem, if every other browser
>>> displays the same way, but not like Chrome?
>>>
>> That's what I'd like to know.
>>
>> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>> | Likewise, any program that displays HTML (like Skype's
>>> | login screen) shows up garbled.
>>> |
>>>
>>> Displays HTML? At skype.com I see a top panel in garish
>>> hues of blue/red/green, and below that I see several marketing
>>> blurbs that are all chopped off in the middle. (Is skype.com what
>>> you mean by the "login screen"? If you mean the page where you
>>> land after clicking "Sign In" then that's not a good example. Anyone
>>> who doesn't use Skype won't see the same page that you do.)
>>>
>> Nonono... This is Skype's installed application, not Skype.com. See the
>> screenshot above. Skype, and many other installed programs use HTML to
>> mark up their UI's.
>>
>> Mayayana;1307451 Wrote:
>>> It sounds like you're just dealing with the garden variety problems
>>> of webpages. If you really want to get to the bottom of it, post
>>> some links to pages with simple code that everyone can visit without
>>> signing in, etc. And describe details. (Google, as noted, is a mess.
>>> That's not a good example. Skype.com is actually fairly clean,
>>> readable code.)
>>>
>>> You're wasting a lot of time. Why would you re-install XP
>>> over webpage display?!
>> Trust me... It's not a garden variety problem. If it was, it wouldn't
>> have thwarted me for as long as it has.
>>
>> If it would help any, I can go to any website you like and post code.
>> Just about every website I go to in FF is funky.
>>
>>
> Check that your Display Properties, Settings tab is set to Highest (32-bit)
> and check the other tabs in case you have accidentally set a weird Theme
> or changed the Appearance settings.
> If they are all OK, Start>Run>dxdiag to check DirectX settings, or just
> go here and run the DirectX runtime updater:
> http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35
> as it sounds like it could be a rendering engine issue.
> Other things to check:
> Update graphics card drivers.
> Update Java.
>
> HTH

What's interesting about that, is the browser color elements outside
the main window are rendering properly. It's only the "Google black buttons"
that aren't coming out right. In the "More" menu, the menu itself is blue
in color, which matches the blue framing around the improperly rendered stuff.

It says here, that Firefox is experimenting with hardware acceleration.

http://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/09/hardware-acceleration/

But on WinXP, the Content acceleration is "None", while
Compositing is "Direct 3D". I would have expected the
black squares to be handled by the Content thing. (I
can't read the Google javascript code worth a damn, and I
don't know what they're doing in that code they download.)

This add-on allows testing of graphics rendering, but with
the purpose of helping Firefox developers.

http://jagriffin.wordpress.com/2010/...ing-grafx-bot/

They mention a few settings in there. Some of which I can
see if using "about:config" as a URL. (about:config has no "undo"
function, so should be used with care...)

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/936/aboutconfig.gif

gfx.direct2d.disabled false
gfx.direct2d.force-enabled false

So there are toys to play with...

Paul

|
| Of this website...
| [image: http://i56.tinypic.com/33yot39.jpg]
|

That's interesting. I see the top menu with a green
background. In the page that color is set:

..vbseo_top_menu td {
background-color: #9CCE21;

I have no idea what could cause what you're seeing.
Paul's idea about hardware acceleration in interesting.
I'm using FF3 with script disabled, so anything I see
should work for you. I don't see how it could be connected
to anything like display settings. That would mean that
XP is unable to render 9CCE21, which doesn't make sense.

The only other thing I can think of is a longshot:
something in about:config or in usercontent.css
(which is in the chrome folder, wherever your profile
folder is).