Why is my computer displaying A's with boxes around them instead of words?

Why is my computer displaying A's with boxes around them instead of words? Is this the malware virus of today? I can get on the internet but just can't read anything. Please help!

Back up all data.
Launch the Font Book application and validate all fonts. You must select the fonts in order to validate them. See the built-in help and the support article linked below for instructions. If Font Book finds any issues, resolve them, then boot in safe mode* (by holding down the shift key at the startup chime) to rebuild the font caches. Boot again as usual and test.
Mac 101: Font Book
*Note: If FileVault is enabled under Mac OS X 10.7 or later, or if a firmware password is set, you can’t boot in safe mode. In that case, after running Font Book, launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo atsutil databases -remove
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. After running the command, reboot as usual.

Similar Messages

My iMac PPC has little A's with boxes around them instead of text?

After my son's visit from NYC my iMac PPC OS 10.4.11 now has A's with boxes around them instead of usual names across the top of the screen. No more File Edit etc across the top of the screen?

That's usually caused by a third-party font manager competing with FontBook. Check the links in this old thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15900552#15900552
And speak sternly to your son if he installed a font manager

Suddenly some of the characters in mail have turned into 'A's with boxes around them?

I don't think I changed any settings, but suddenly some of the characters in my emails received have utrned into 'A's with boxes around them. A think the characters that have changed are in italics (see pic below).
Any suggestions what has gone wrong here and how I can fix it?
Thanks!

Back up all data.
Launch the Font Book application and validate all fonts. You must select the fonts in order to validate them. See the built-in help and the support article linked below for instructions. If Font Book finds any issues, resolve them, then boot in safe mode* (by holding down the shift key at the startup chime) to rebuild the font caches. Boot again as usual and test.
Mac 101: Font Book
*Note: If FileVault is enabled under OS X 10.7 or later, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t boot in safe mode. In that case only, after running Font Book, launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo atsutil databases -remove
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. After running the command, reboot as usual.

A's with boxes around them??

Everywhere on my desktop where there is supposed to be text there are A's with boxes around them. This is the same when I click on the finder...instead of having things like My Documents it has nothing but A's with boxes around them. I have a print screen picture of it but don't know how to post it on here.

Welcome!
Please look at this post in the Tiger forums:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9319072&#9319072
This problem has come up before but is usually asked in the Mac OS forums. If you need help with any of the suggestions, post back.

Why does my computer display a spring coloured wheel that stops me from doing anything

Why does my computer display a spinning coloured wheel that stops me from doing anything, the only way to get rid is to switch off and reload...

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Step 1
For this step, the title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes.)
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Select the BOOT_TIME log message that corresponds to the last boot time when you had the problem. Now clear the search box to reveal all messages. Select the ones logged before the boot, during the time something abnormal was happening. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
For example, if the system was unresponsive or was failing to shut down for three minutes before you forced a restart, post the messages timestamped within three minutes before the boot time, not after. Please include the BOOT_TIME message at the end of the log extract—not at the beginning.
If there are long runs of repeated messages, please post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Step 2
In the Console window, select
          DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION ▹ System Diagnostic Reports
(not Diagnostic and Usage Messages) from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
There is a disclosure triangle to the left of the list item. If the triangle is pointing to the right, click it so that it points down. You'll see a list of reports. A crash report has a name that begins with the name of the crashed process and ends in ".crash". A panic report has a name that begins with "Kernel" and ends in ".panic". A shutdown stall report has a name that ends in ".shutdownstall". Select the most recent of each, if any. The contents of the report will appear on the right. Use copy and paste to post the entire contents—the text, not a screenshot. It's possible that none of these reports exists.
I know the report is long, maybe several hundred lines. Please post all of it anyway.
If you don't see any reports listed, but you know there was a crash or panic, you may have chosen Diagnostic and Usage Messages from the log list. Choose DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION instead.
In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)
Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report—they're very long and rarely helpful.

I just updated to 10.8.4 and my mail program is showing a series of boxes with AAAAs inside them instead of the email addresses. Also when on Safari web pages are displaying the same AAAAAs instead of type. Firefox displays fine. Can someone help me?

I just updated to 10.8.4 and my mail program is showing a series of boxes with AAAAs inside them instead of the email addresses. Also when on Safari web pages are displaying the same AAAAAs instead of type. Firefox displays fine. Can someone help me?

Restart your Mac and immediately hold down the Shift key when you hear the startup chime to boot into Safe Mode. Keep holding the Shift key until you see a progress bar towards the bottom of the screen. You can let go of the Shift key at that point.
OS X asks you to log in (you will get this screen on a Safe Mode boot even if your Mac is set to automatically log in). Let the Mac finish booting to the desktop and then restart normally. This will clear Font Book's database and the cache files of the user account you logged into in Safe Mode.
Next, close all running applications. From an administrator account, open the Terminal app and enter the following command. You can also copy/paste it from here into the Terminal window:
sudo atsutil databases -remove
Terminal will then ask for your admin password. As you type, it will not show anything, so be sure to enter it correctly.
This removes all font cache files. Both for the system and the current user font cache files. After running the command, close Terminal and immediately restart your Mac.

Hyperlinks show up with a box around them in Pages 2 PDF's.

I am excited that web links now show up as hyperlinks. However, when I export a .pdf of the document, the hyperlinks end up with a box around them that makes them unreadable.
Any idea how to get rid of the box. It doesn't show up in the original document. Only when you view invisibles.
iBook 1.2 GHz PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3) 1.26 GB DDR SDRAM
iBook 1.2 GHz PowerPC G4 1.26 GB DDR SDRAM

Dennis,
you are right with your thought. I am thankful for every info to get better in every way. The posts in the Pages Discussions are easy to understand and so it should be. Wow, I can tell you, that this is very different to some 3D forums.
After I know how to start the English version of Pages (thank you Matthias, this was a very good advice), I think most people can follow my explanations better, without the time of waiting for your title translations
Frank.

When i add text to PDFs and work on the file for awhile, my red added text starts to turn into red X's with a box around them. I have OCRs turned off, i have the latest update, and i have registered the product. What is happening to my text while i'm work

When i add text to PDFs and work on the file for awhile, my red added text starts to turn into red X's with a box around them. I have OCRs turned off, i have the latest update, and i have registered the product. What is happening to my text while i'm working on these files? On top of this, my red arrows get moved around also.

Hi ,
Could you please update me with few details like what version of Acrobat are you using?
What OS do you work on ?
Do you experience this any particular PDF or happens with all of them?
Did you try the same with turning on the OCR ?Please check the same and compare the outputs .Does that help you in anyway ?
If the file is not confidential ,could you please share the file with us so that we can analyse it our end and revert you with the appropriate answer .
Please share the file on [email protected] and please cc [email protected] as well .
Regards
Sukrit Dhingra

Why has my computer slowed after updating with mavericks

i updated to mavericks .since i did this my computer has slowed and i am also getting problems with streaming can i revert back to mountain lion.

how much RAM do you have?
how full is your hard drive?
what apps are you trying to run when things are slow?
do you have any crapware installed, like
antivirus software
defragmenters
"cleaners"
"optimizers"
how long has it been since you updated? Spotlight may be updating, that can take a while, and things may be slow while it does.
Boot into your recovery partition (hold down ⌘R at restart until you see the Apple symbol), go to Disk Utility, and repair your hard drive. While you're there, repair permissions too. OSX Tips Using the Recovery HD
Try a safe boot (hold down shift and restart) : Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? . If this works, it means that the problem is with some third-party software you have installed.
Try a test user account: Isolating an issue by using another user account .
That is: if you want, we could try to fix what is wrong. Otherwise, you could certainly go back to ML if you want. How you would get there would depend on how your computer originally came, either with OS installer discs, or with the OS already installed. osx - Roll back from OS X Mavericks ( or any newer OS) to Mountain Lion - Ask Different

I get blue boxes with "?" marks in them instead of words

I have tried everything I have read about. If I go to the apple website and check out the Battery Recal page at the bottom, I get those blue boxes instead of words. Pages won't build correctly also.
I've removed the com.apple Safari from my user/preferences list and put it on my desktop. I have taken the Safari app. from my husbands computer. I have reinstalled Quicktime. I have run out of solutions.

Hello susie:
The blue boxes with "?" indicates that the page is not completely loading in a proper fashion.
Clear the Safari cache
Trash the Safari preference file (com.apple.safari.plist) and restart.
Remove any Safari add-ons or "enhancers."
What sort of connection do you have to the Internet? Connections/ISP problems could also be a root cause of your problem.
This is a general troubleshooting article - some of which may be relevant:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107657
Barry

How to create a new document with a given theme, instead of choosing it every time.

Hi,
for work I only use a custom made keynote theme.
I've already deleted all the default themes, and the only one that is listed in the app is the one I actually use.
However every time I create a new document I have to chose its theme (that's normal having plenty of themes, but in my case is just a waste of time).
I was wondering if there's a way to tell keynote to start a new document with a given theme, in order to avoid to chose it every time.
Thank you for reading and for the help you will give.
Giacomo

Keynote > Preferences > General tab
select “Use theme,” and then click Choose to select a theme.

Can my computer display 'extended desktop' with a second monitor?

I believe I have a G4 Quicksilver 867 (2001) (bought it used and figuring out which model G4 is not that easy). I recently got a second monitor, but I only seem to have the option to have a mirrored setup (which works well). Is there anything I can do or rather what are my options to get it to show extended desktop. My video card is
Chipset Model: GeForce2 MX
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 32 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0110
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 1049
Will I have to get a new graphics card or is there a workaround of some sort?

Thanks, not what I wanted to hear, but helpful. hope you'll answer a couple of questions. I bought this computer as a second (do taxes, surf the internet, connected to my wireless router, escape my three kids wanting to use the primary). I've been very happy with it for its limited use (my primary is one of the first Imac G5's).
1st: Do you think it's worth putting a faster processor in it? My G5 has the latest OS, but I'm hesitant to go past 10.411 with the G4 867
2nd: Would you recommend a video card update to run extended desktop?
3rd: Can you run extended desktop on the original IMAC G5's (1.8 ghz, GeForce FX 5200, 64 mb ram)?

Why does my computer run slower now with OS X Mavericks?

I installed OS X Mavericks on my Mac, which is an older MacBook, and now it runs much slower and I have to Force Quite just about everytime I want to downloard something. Needless to say, I am frustrated!! Now when it boots up, the last web site I was on is fron and centre! I don't get my home page. What can I do to speed this thing up and make it run the way it did before this installation! I thought it was suppose to be better!

If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything suggested in this comment. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. It does nothing but produce human-readable data about the state of your computer. However, you need to be cautious about running any program at the behest of a stranger on a public message board. If you question the safety of the procedure suggested here — which you should — search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects. If you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them.
Here's a summary of what you need to do: Copy a line of text from this web page into the window of another application. Wait about a minute. Then paste some other text, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page. The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. Details follow.
You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only run the test in safe mode, proceed anyway.
If you have more than one user, and the affected user is not an administrator, then please run the script twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The administrator is the user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time. If you can't log in as an administrator, just run the script as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.
The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clickinganywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in your browser, and you can then copy it.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign ($) or a percent sign (%). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
clear; shopt -s extglob; Fb='%s\n\t(%s)\n'; Fm='\n%s:\n\n%s\n'; Fs='\n%s: %s\n'; PB="/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c Print"; Pm () { [[ "$o" ]] && o=$(sed 's/^/ /' <<< "$o") && printf "$Fm" "$1" "$o"; }; Pc () { o=$(egrep -v '^[[:blank:]]*($|#)' "$2"); Pm "$1"; }; Pp () { o=$($PB "$2" | awk -F'= ' \/$3'/{print $2}'); Pm "$1"; }; Ps () { o="${o##+( )}"; [[ "$o" -ne 0 ]] && printf "$Fs" "$1" "$o"; }; a=$(id | grep -w '80(admin)'); r=1; [[ "$a" ]] && { sudo true; r=$?; }; { [[ "$a" ]] || echo $'No admin access\n'; [[ "$a" && "$r" -ne 0 ]] && echo $'No root access\n'; system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType | sed '8!d;s/^ *//'; o=$(system_profiler SPDiagnosticsDataType | sed '5,6!d'); fgrep -q P <<< "$o" && o=; Pm "POST"; o=$(nvram boot-args | awk '{$1=""; print}'); Ps "boot-args"; o=$(($(vm_stat | awk '/Pageo/{sub("\\.",""); print $2}')/256)); o=$((o>=1024?o:0)); Ps "Pageouts (MiB)"; s=( $(sar -u 1 10 | sed '$!d') ); [[ ${s[4]} -lt 90 ]] && o=$(printf 'User %s%%\t\tSystem %s%%' ${s[1]} ${s[3]}) || o=; Pm "Total CPU usage" && o=$(ps acrx -o comm,ruid,%cpu | sed '2!d'); Pm "Max %CPU by process (name, UID, %)"; o=$(kextstat -kl | grep -v com\\.apple | cut -c53- | cut -d\< -f1); Pm "Loaded extrinsic kernel extensions"; o=$(launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)|\.[0-9]+$/{print $3}'); Pm "Loaded extrinsic user agents"; o=$(launchctl getenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES); Pm "Inserted libraries"; for f in crontab fstab launchd.conf sysctl.conf; do Pc $f /etc/$f; done; Pc "hosts" <(sed '1,10d' /etc/hosts); Pc "User crontab" <(crontab -l); Pc "User launchd" ~/.launchd; o=$(find {,/u*/lo*}/e*/periodic -type f -mtime -10d); Pm "Modified periodic scripts"; Pp "Global login items" /L*/P*/loginw* Path; Pp "User login items" L*/P*/*loginit* Name; Pp "Safari extensions" L*/Saf*/*/E*.plist Bundle | sed 's/\..*$//;s/-[1-9]$//'; o=$(find ~ $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 $ | wc -l); Ps "Restricted user files"; cd; o=$(find -L /S*/L*/E* {/,}L*/{A*d,Compon,Ex,In,Keyb,Mail/Bu,P*P,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo}* -type d -name Contents -prune | while read d; do ID=$($PB\ :CFBundleIdentifier "$d/Info.plist") || ID="No bundle ID"; egrep -qv "^com\.apple\.[^x]|Accusys|ArcMSR|ATTO|HDPro|HighPoint|driver\.stex|hp-fax|\.hpio|JMicron|microsoft\.MDI|print|SoftRAID" <<< $ID && printf "$Fb" "${d%/Contents}" "$ID"; done); Pm "Extrinsic loadable bundles"; o=$(find /u*/{,*/}lib -type f -exec sh -c 'file -b "$1" | grep -qw shared && ! codesign -v "$1"' {} {} \; -print); Pm "Unsigned shared libraries"; o=$(system_profiler SPFontsDataType | egrep "Valid: N|Duplicate: Y" | wc -l); Ps "Font problems"; for d in {/,}L*/{La,Priv,Sta}*; do o=$(ls -A "$d" | grep -vw \.DS_Store); Pm "$d"; done; o=$(ls /L*/L*/Dia*/*.p* | tail); Pm "Panic logs"; o=$(ls /L*/L*/Dia*/*.c* | tail); Pm "System crash logs"; o=$(ls L*/L*/Dia* | tail); Pm "User crash logs"; [[ "$r" -eq 0 ]] && { o=$(sudo profiles -P); Pm "Profiles"; o=$(sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix\.cron)|org\.(amav|apac|calendarse|cups|dove|isc|ntp|post[fg]|x)/{print $3}'); Pm "Loaded extrinsic daemons"; o=$(sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook); Pm "Login hook"; Pc "Root crontab" <(sudo crontab -l);}; o=$(syslog -F bsd -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'GPU |hfs: Ru|I/O e|n Cause: -|NVDA\(|pagin|timed? ?o' | tail -n25 | awk '/:/{$4=""; $5=""; print}'); Pm "Kernel messages"; } 2> /dev/null | pbcopy; exit
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.
If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the script will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important, so don't worry about it.
The script may take up to a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. Wait for the line "[Process completed]" to appear in the Terminal window.
You can then quit Terminal. The output of the script will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. All you have to do is paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V again. If any personal information, such as your name or email address, appears in the output, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary. Please don't copy anything from the Terminal window.
When you post the output, you might see in your browser the message, "You have included content in your post that is not permitted." That's because the forum software falsely identifies something in the post as a violation of the terms of use. If that happens, please post the output on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.
Note: This is a public forum, and others may offer you advice based on the output of the script. They speak only for themselves and I don't necessarily agree with their views.
Copyright © 2014 Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Terms of Use of Apple Support Communities ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

COMPUTER DISPLAYING BDOS SCREEN WITH ERROR IN DRIVER NETIO.SYS (DRIVER NOT LESS OR EQUAL)

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: 11-11-2014 21:28:32
Event ID: 41
Task Category: (63)
Level: Critical
Keywords: (2)
User: SYSTEM
Computer: hp
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />
<EventID>41</EventID>
<Version>3</Version>
<Level>1</Level>
<Task>63</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-11-11T15:58:32.143554400Z" />
<EventRecordID>23255</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>hp</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">0</Data>
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>
<Data Name="BootAppStatus">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Hi,
In order to assist you, we will need the .DMP files to analyze what exactly occurred at the time of the crash, etc.
If you don't know where .DMP files are located, here's how to get to them:
1. Navigate to the %systemroot%\Minidump folder.
-- %systemroot% is the environment variable for your Windows directory. For example, C:\Windows.
2. Copy any and all .DMP files in the Minidump folder to your Desktop, create a new folder on the Desktop to put these .DMP files in, and then zip the folder. You can then either use a 3rd party tool such as 7-Zip/Winrar, or you can use Windows'
default method of zipping folders.
Compress and uncompress files (zip files).
Please note that any "cleaner" programs such as TuneUpUtilities, CCleaner, etc, by default will delete .DMP files upon use. With this said, if you've run such software, and your Minidump folder is empty, you will need
to allow the system to crash once again to generate a crash dump.
3. Upload the .ZIP containing the .DMP files to Onedrive or a hosting site of your choice and paste in your reply.
Preferred sites: Onedrive, Mediafire, Dropbox, etc. Nothing with wait-timers, download managers, etc.
4 (optional): The type of .DMP files located in the Minidump folder are known as Small Memory Dumps. In %systemroot% there will be what is known as a Kernel Memory Dump (if your system is set to generate). It is labeled MEMORY.DMP. The difference
between Small Memory Dumps and Kernel Memory Dumps in the simplest definition is a Kernel Memory Dump contains
much more information at the time of the crash, therefore allowing further debugging of your issue. If your upload speed permits it, and you aren't going against any strict bandwidth and/or usage caps, etc, the Kernel Memory Dump is
the best choice. Do note that Kernel Memory Dumps are much larger
in size due to containing much more info, which is why I mentioned upload speed, etc.
If you are going to use Onedrive but don't know how to upload to it, please visit the following:
Upload photos and files to Onedrive.
After doing that, to learn how to share the link to the file if you are unaware, please visit the following link -
Share files and folders and change permissions and view 'Get a link'.
If your computer is not generating .DMP files, please do the following:
1. Start > type %systemroot% which should show the Windows folder, click on it. Once inside that folder, ensure there is a Minidump folder created. If not, CTRL-SHIFT-N to make a New Folder and name it Minidump.
2. Windows key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > Ensure there's a check-mark for 'Automatically manage paging file size for
all drives'.
3. Windows key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings > System Failure > ensure there is a check mark next to 'Write an event to the
system log'.
Ensure Small Memory Dump is selected and ensure the path is %systemroot%\Minidump.
4. Double check that the WERS is ENABLED:
Start > Search > type services.msc > Under the name tab, find Windows Error Reporting Service > If the status of the service is not Started then right click it and select Start. Also ensure that under Startup Type it is set to Automatic rather than
Manual. You can do this by right clicking it, selecting properties, and under General selecting startup type to 'Automatic', and then click Apply.
If you cannot get into normal mode to do any of this, please do this via Safe Mode.
Regards,
Patrick
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama

Why is my computer automatically filling in with dashes before I can sign in?

My computer is a HP Pavilion A6600F, Windows 7 64 bit, and recently when I turn on the computer it automatically fills in the sign in areas. I have had to hit enter twice before I can sign in. Some times when I want to do a search for something it will fill that area with dashes and won't allow me to stop it. I have had to go through all types of changes to get it to operate right. This started just recently after I moved. Could it be something loose or do I have to call in a specialist?
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adagarner wrote: My computer is a HP Pavilion A6600F, Windows 7 64 bit, and recently when I turn on the computer it automatically fills in the sign in areas. I have had to hit enter twice before I can sign in. Some times when I want to do a search for something it will fill that area with dashes and won't allow me to stop it. I have had to go through all types of changes to get it to operate right. This started just recently after I moved. Could it be something loose or do I have to call in a specialist?
Hello adagarner, You might try going back to a Windows Restore Point before this issue presented itself.
Go to the Start Orb, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Click on the item System Restore and the Windows System Restore window should open. It may take a few seconds for this to open.
Then look for a System Restore Point before the issue occured.
The system should reboot and the system will boot back to the normal desktop and a message will appear that advises the system was successful or that Windows was unable to restore the system.
Sometimes this works and other times not, but may be worth a try.
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Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem.

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