My macbook pro occasionally displays chinese. How do I remove it?

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Level 1

8 points

My macbook pro occasionally displays chinese. How do I remove it?

I recently purchased a used Macbook Pro. It's great most of the time, but on some screens it defaults to Chinese lettering. I went to Language & Text in the System Preferences and removed all languages except U.S. English and English. Unfortunately, this did not do it.

This was most noticable when I tried to install a clean and new version of Mountain Lion. I created a boot USB drive. Upon booting to the USB drive, it displayed the disc utility in Chinese.

I would appreciate any help.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 3:02 PM

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Answer 1

thenitewatch Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 11, 2013 3:13 PM in response to thenitewatch

Additional information - when enabling the login screen, it also goes to Chinese. I hope that this helps.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,496 points

Apr 11, 2013 4:24 PM in response to thenitewatch

Could you use the camera icon to post a screen shot of an example of what you are seeing? I assume you have rebooted you machine a few times?

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Answer 3

thenitewatch Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 11, 2013 4:41 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you for the reply, and yes. I have rebooted the machine several times.

When I restart the computer and press the Option key, I get the following screen. Please note that the wifi is in Chinese.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,496 points

Apr 11, 2013 4:51 PM in response to thenitewatch

It's odd to have this when you have removed the language. Try using the Edit button to add French right under English (you can remove US English, so there are just English and French) in system preferences/language & text/language and then restart.

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Answer 5

thenitewatch Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 11, 2013 4:56 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you for the reply.

I removed US English, added French below English and rebooted.

I then rebooted again, and pressed Option. I still get the Select Startup disc in Chinese.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,496 points

Apr 11, 2013 8:36 PM in response to thenitewatch

I'm stumped!

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Answer 7

thenitewatch Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 12, 2013 4:10 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I appreciate your attempts. I'm going to have to spend a day at the Apple store and see what they can do.

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Answer 8

Feb 17, 2014 6:11 PM in response to thenitewatch

I have the same Problem with my early 2008 MacBook Pro. Did you find the answer to the Chinese wording problem? I have updated Mountain Lion with PS4 and Word Office11 instaled. I was thinking about eracing the drive and a clean install of Mavericks but I was consrned about loosing my Adoby and Word programs.

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Answer 9

thenitewatch Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 18, 2014 3:58 AM in response to Rickey Lee

Rickey,

I ended up purchasing a fresh version of the OS, and having it installed at the Apple Store. The genius' there very quickly verified the purchase and made a clean install. I haven't had any problems since. I hope that this helps.

Good luck!

Nick

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