Random chinese text on unavabile pages?!
MacBook Air Mid 2009, Mac OS X (10.7)
It looks like what you get when some text is mistakenly being read as UTF-16 encoding. Normally what you should see is a "Safari cannot open this page...." message.
It looks like what you get when some text is mistakenly being read as UTF-16 encoding. Normally what you should see is a "Safari cannot open this page...." message.
Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins and log in as Guest. For instructions, launch the System Preferences application, select Help from the menu bar, and enter “Set up a guest account” (without the quotes) in the search box.
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your personal files or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem(s)?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault in Mac OS X 10.7 or later, then you can’t enable the Guest account. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of steps 1 and 2.
I tried this on the guest account, and it was normal. So it's my account's fault.
Any solutions? Thank you very much!
What about your account in safe mode?
Typing from safe mode now. Same problem.
Copy the text from the window and run it through a translator such as Google Translate. What does it say?
Try doing View > Text Encoding = Unicode UTF-8 and see if it becomes legible.
Linc Davis wrote:
Copy the text from the window and run it through a translator
It's not really Chinese, just looks that way. You can duplicate this kind of thing by using FireFox and doing View > Character Encoding > Unicode UTF-16,
I see what you mean, but the OP is using Safari, and in my copy, there is no UTF-16 encoding option. I can't reproduce his results.
Linc Davis wrote:
the OP is using Safari, and in my copy, there is no UTF-16 encoding option. I can't reproduce his results.
Yes, that is correct. For Safari to do this there must be a .plist entry or something else overriding the user settings.
Nothing happened. Switched them back and forth.
Thanks!
Please change your system language to English temporarily. Same problem?
As Tom said, this is not Chinese, or any other language,, IMHO.
It's messed up fonts or font cache, I believe.
His screen shot indicates he is in Romanian localization.
Switching to english did it!
Probably it's a bug...
Random chinese text on unavabile pages?!