Symbols showing instead of text on titles

[Jim Toney]

I started my computer after being away for several days and
it booted up showing symbols for titles in everything
related to Windows. The internet is fine. The computer
was working perfectly before I turned it off. The start
menu has symbols instead of program names.

The computer is a Dell 8250 about 1 year old. I have not
added any hardware or solftware in the past couple of weeks.

Help

 

[Malke]

I started my computer after being away for several days and
it booted up showing symbols for titles in everything
related to Windows. The internet is fine. The computer
was working perfectly before I turned it off. The start
menu has symbols instead of program names.

The computer is a Dell 8250 about 1 year old. I have not
added any hardware or solftware in the past couple of weeks.

Help

Have you rebooted again and is the computer still not better? In my
experience, when you get crazy stuff like this, this is my
troubleshooting path: 1) virus scan, of course; 2) check for
overheating by opening the computer and observing how it runs; 3) do a
RAM and hard drive test; 4) maybe try a different video card. Very
often you'll get weird characters like that just before some piece of
hardware dies. Sorry to not be more specific, but that's the best I can
do without actually having the machine here. If you feel up to doing
the hardware testing, then repost with results. Otherwise, if the
machine is still under warranty, you might just want to throw it back
onto Dell. Don't let them just tell you to reinstall Windows. I'm not
saying this isn't going to happen, but it certainly isn't where I'd
start.

Malke