Level 1

15 points

Troubleshooting font problem

I recently ran into what appeared to be a font-related problem with a new app I was trying out. When I opened FontBook I found that I had numerous duplicates. I used the Resolve Duplicates command and I also manually disabled all of the foreign language fonts I could identify.

I also attempted to follow a procedure that was recommended somewhere in support literature, (although I'm embarrassed to say I can't recall where I read it now), suggesting that dragging the fonts folder out of the System/Library folder and back in again would help to identify corrupt fonts. It also said that MS Word would then check fonts when it started up. I did this and Word did, in fact, go through a font inspection when opened. For some reason, however, it seemed to think that every single font was corrupt and I had to click OK for each one.

Unfortunately, now when I attempt to start a different app -FileMaker Pro (7.0v3)- it crashes every time. I'm not really qualified to evaluate crash logs but there seems to be indication of font-related items. I've done the usual assortment of preference trashing, checking for and installing updates (FileMaker), disk and permission repair including DiskWarrior, but I've still got the same crash on startup with FM.

Font validation in FontBook revealed 3 corrupt fonts - two (both Asian languages of some kind - sorry) that were already disabled and Gr Courier. Disabling the latter appears to have made no difference.

So, I'm looking for some guidance in the way of troubleshooting the font issue. For what it's worth, I appear to have lots of non-system fonts in my System/Library/Fonts folder. Not sure what I should try next. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks - JAY

G4 MDD 1.25 MP, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Feb 6, 2007 9:23 AM

29 replies

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 7, 2007 8:17 AM in response to J D Knight III

for some reason I can't see that log file.. states it
doesn't exist/has yet to be created.

Did you try Control click - Download linked file? I just checked it out and it worked for me.

Usually you want to leave /System/Library/Fonts alone
like Bee mentioned (and I failed to) as they should
only be there by the system install. Follow up on
Bee's outside link post with your results please.

I wasn't attempting to make any changes in that folder. I just wanted to compare the contents to the OS X 10.4 fonts list in the document I mentioned in my previous post to Bee. Thanks, though.

JAY

Feb 7, 2007 8:19 AM in response to TildeBee

Bee is correct in that Font Doctor will not reinstall fonts for you.
I'm thinking that you may not get the FMP installer to reinstall them... but it is worth a try. If it won't let you just reinstall the fonts then you want to search the installer package manually. (right-click or Control-Click and Show Package Contents from a finder window).

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 7, 2007 8:31 AM in response to TildeBee

OK - good to know. I actually didn't delete any of the Asian fonts, I just disabled them in FontBook.

Jay --
See my edit on my last post.
FileMaker Pro needs some Asian Fonts.
You may have to reinstall them.
I don't think Font Doctor will do this.

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 7, 2007 9:50 AM in response to Jay Beech

OK, I booted into Safe Mode, looged in, logged out, rebooted normally, emptied trash (to delete old font cache and enable all fonts previously disbled in FontBook), and it looks like I'm back in business. FIleMaker is working, anyway. Thanks a million for helping me get this far!

Now back to the issue of font duplicates and incomplete sets... It appears that most of my duplicates are in the (OS9) System Folder/Fonts folder including fonts like Arial, Trebuchet MS, and Verdana. If I delete those I won't have them in OS9 or Classic, right? (Seems obvious but I've never fully understood how Classic works.) I DO need to boot into OS9 occasionally.

Also, doesn't it seem odd that I would have v.1.0 of Palatino in my Users/~/Library/Fonts folder but v.3.5a3 in my (OS9) System Folder/Fonts folder?

As for the incomplete font sets issue identified by Bee from my crash log, FontDoctor can identify missing fonts but it can't replace them, right? If found, I would have to locate complete sets of the fonts and then install them? With FontBook? With FontDoctor?

Thanks - JAY

Feb 7, 2007 10:25 AM in response to Jay Beech

So, is FMP happy, but your audio program still sad? Which one is it as I know Finally can be a royal pain?

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 7, 2007 11:00 AM in response to J D Knight III

FileMaker seems fine now. Thanks again.

Actually, this is a new app called PDFtoMusic Pro. It reads notation and text in PDF format and converts it to MusicXML which can then be imported into pgms like Sibelius and Finale. My interest in it is primarily as a utility to convert the many files I have in the OS9-only (not Classic) app, Composer's Mosaic. I'm using Finale now and am hopeful that this program will save me a lot of reformatting work. I haven't had a chance to try it out since deleting the old font cache. Now I have to leave but will report back later.

JAY

So, is FMP happy, but your audio program still sad?
Which one is it as I know Finally can be a royal pain?

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 8, 2007 9:00 AM in response to Jay Beech

Well, I've officially made it back to where I started - That is, everything seems to be working fine except that the PDFtoMusic Pro app is still crashing. This is the point at which that company sent me looking for a font problem...(upon which I got myself into trouble). So, if they correct, I guess I may have to invest in FontBook to see if I can get things cleaned.

If you have any final advice, please post within the next couple of hours. I'm planning to close this thread after lunch and make my final "awards" to Bee and any others I'v not yet credited appropriately. (Not entirely sure what the significance of all that is but I want to be a good forum participant.)

Thanks - JAY

TildeBee

Level 7

31,923 points

Feb 8, 2007 9:16 AM in response to Jay Beech

Jay --

I really think you deleted or disabled one of the fonts that PDFtoMusic requires.
I would contact them to ask which are their required fonts, then check your free application "Font Book" to make sure they're all there. If not, ask them how you can restore the font(s) to your Mac. Ask them if you should reinstall the app -- or what advice do they have for you.

An additional font "doctor" program will probably not help in this situation.

Wishing you all good success!

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,690 points

Feb 8, 2007 10:14 AM in response to Jay Beech

Hi Jay,

It looks like forcing Font Book to recreate its datatbase (by doing the Safe Mode startup) solved most of the issues. But you may still have corrupt font cache files. You can clean those off the system by running Font Finagler. It may or may not help, but won't hurt anything to try.

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 8, 2007 11:08 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Aren't all font caches moved to the trash with a safe boot?

Hi Jay,

It looks like forcing Font Book to recreate its
datatbase (by doing the Safe Mode startup) solved
most of the issues. But you may still have corrupt
font cache files. You can clean those off the system
by running
Font Finagler. It may or may not help, but won't
hurt anything to try.

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,690 points

Feb 8, 2007 11:22 AM in response to Jay Beech

Oh! Yes, I believe you are correct.

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 9, 2007 8:28 AM in response to TildeBee

Good news to report - I've got everything working now! I learned that I could download and run FontDoctor in demo mode and it would run a full diagnostic but not repair anything. I did that and it found LOTS of font problems on my system so I decided to buy it. It repaired whatever was crashing the PDFtoMusic app. Thanks for your help and all other who responded.

JAY

Jay --

I really think you deleted or disabled one of the
fonts that PDFtoMusic requires.
I would contact them to ask which are their required
fonts, then check your free application "Font Book"
to make sure they're all there. If not, ask them how
you can restore the font(s) to your Mac. Ask them if
you should reinstall the app -- or what advice do
they have for you.

An additional font "doctor" program will probably not
help in this situation.

Wishing you all good success!

TildeBee

Level 7

31,923 points

Feb 9, 2007 3:53 PM in response to Jay Beech

Fabulous, Jay !!!!!!
You did great work, with just a little support!
And its very good to know more about Font Doctor.

😉

Jay Beech Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 9, 2007 4:59 PM in response to TildeBee

Very thoughtful of you to say so, but I felt like I got a considerable amount of support from you and others. Thanks!

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Troubleshooting font problem