Hey there.
I use foobar2000 for a couple of years now and never had a problem like that:
(http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3443/foobarproblem.png)
The bug first occured 1-2 weeks ago. My machine runs on Windows 8 and the only thing I can possibly think of as a cause are some updates Windows installed at that time. I have the Last.fm scrobbler installed as an additional component, the only one that the online troubleshooter said could be problematic. But even without this plugin loaded I get the same result. I updated foobar2000 to the latest version (1.2.3) but that didn't help, too - same with completely un- and reinstalling the program.
Edit: Strange thing is: When I copy the squares and paste them into a document/browser/etc. the characters are shown correctly. Even when I play a song with those tags the Last.fm program recognizes the characters right and displays them properly, too.
Don't know what to do now, please help!
Have you changed display font? Preferences --> Display --> Default User Interface --> Colors and Fonts
Nope.
(http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8803/foobarcolors.png)
Okay, after some advanced search I found what causes the problem (though I don't understand why). Recently I started using Google Chrome as my default browser. When I start my laptop and open foobar2000 before I start using Chrome, all japanese characters are displayed fine. But when Chrome is started first, the problem occurs as long as I don't restart my laptop (and then open foobar2000 first).
(http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/5646/foobarsolved.png)
This bug seems to exist for about 3 years now and obviously isn't fixed until today.
Source: Google Product Forums (https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/chrome/1PGKQITTSSQ)
“The workaround for both Win 7 and 8 in my case is to place a Chinese/Japanese named file on the Desktop.”
Astonishing ...
FWIW, many users have posted about fonts suddenly losing special characters, apparently due to some leak in Windows, and it was found that shutting down is not necessary in those cases: logging out and then back in sorts the problem by reloading the full font. I don’t know whether this applies in this case, and of course you want to avoid having to end your session in any way, but logging out/in would save some time if it works for this issue and you do find that the font has gone again.
Edit: Also, I was drafting a post earlier that I ended up losing when I cleared my tabs, and I was thinking the same thing as Porcus!
My mind is blown, but I'm sure that when I had this problem, I didn't always open Chrome before foobar2000. (Though my switch to Firefox as default browser does seem to coincide with me not seeing this problem anymore.)
yet another reason to not install chrome (first being system lockups not seen in other browsers when doing heavy I/O)
Shame on Microsoft. Thanks for the fix.
“Shame on Microsoft”? Did I miss something where this was conclusively attributable to them rather than being caused by Google Chrome? I’m all for bashing MS when they deserve it, but I don’t know whether that’s the case here.
Interesting. Never had this happen to me, and I mostly open Chrome before I open foobar. Seeing as it's supposed to affect both win7 and 8 as per Porcus's post, I wonder how my system is different. Am on win7 x64, German/Japanese locale depending on which machine I'm using atm.
@db1989: that linked google thread seems to state it's a Microsoft bug. It's just Chrome that somehow triggers it, it seems. Though not for me, and I'm usually the first person with some weird bugs no one ever heard about lol
@db1989: that linked google thread seems to state it's a Microsoft bug. It's just Chrome that somehow triggers it, it seems.
Can you quote the exact text where this is stated? I don't see it in the linked Google page (https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/chrome/1PGKQITTSSQ)
Uhm. I think I should stop posting when I'm half asleep =/
I have absolutely no idea why I wrote that anymore. Sorry for the confusion.
Still, it doesn't seem to happen on my machine...
I've had this problem before on Win 8... a restart always fixed it. Not kidding.
Lamest fix ever, but it seems to work for me.
Luckily, I only am forced to use Win 8 at work...
What about the method of placing on your desktop a file whose name contains a character in an Asian encoding?
Or, if you choose to continue resetting things, you could possibly at least save yourself some waiting with this:
FWIW, many users have posted about fonts suddenly losing special characters, apparently due to some leak in Windows, and it was found that shutting down is not necessary in those cases: logging out and then back in sorts the problem by reloading the full font. I don’t know whether this applies in this case[…]
“Shame on Microsoft”? Did I miss something where this was conclusively attributable to them rather than being caused by Google Chrome? I’m all for bashing MS when they deserve it, but I don’t know whether that’s the case here.
Well, it seemed to me that Microsoft was to blame when you mentioned a leak in Windows.
Anyway, if having a file on the desktop fixes this issue, your icons must be visible; it's doing nothing for me whose icons are hidden.
Well, it seemed to me that Microsoft was to blame when you mentioned a leak in Windows.
I was talking about another situation in which characters may be lost, which my wording indicated may or may not be related to the main issue in this thread; perhaps I should have made that more explicit.
Anyway, if having a file on the desktop fixes this issue, your icons must be visible; it's doing nothing for me whose icons are hidden.
I’ve had no need to test any of this personally, so I can’t comment either way.
Thanks, I just had this problem too. Good to know there's a fix/workaround. The new opera uses Chromium and seems to cause the same issue.