I was using 12.2 and for some reason today I got a huge update of 2500+ different packages. I accepted and after I was done, it wanted to reboot. I rebooted and noticed that now I was getting boxes instead of text. All of the Yast2 menus, the text was as string of boxes. Ham fisted as I am, I was thinking I would redo my packages in case there was something corrupt. I did a zypper dup. DOH! I just got 12.3! All of the yast text was fixed, however in Firefox, if I try to print, it is all boxes instead of text. So far this is all I have found, but I need it fixed. I’ve tried updating it, removing and reinstalling. I’ve installed hundreds of fonts, I’ve even done a:
sh /var/adm/update-scripts/fetchmsttfonts-11.4-13.1.1-fetchmsttfonts.sh.txt
Rebooted and still the pesky boxes. I will try to upload a screenshot. Nope, it says I “may not”, so use your imagination. A small box instead of a character.
You cannot upgrade from 12.2 to 12.3 unless you changed the repos from those of 12.2 to 12.3 and shouldn’t have got 2500+ updates unless you messed with the repos. Then again, you are free to do what with your machine
I would close out firefox , rename the .mozilla folder in your home directory and restart Firefox to check whether profile got corrupted.
If that did not fix it you may opt to create a “new user” and log into that new users and check whether Firefox works there.
Well, what happened was I had not realized 12.3 was even out yet. I got a system update notice. I always try to keep my system current, so I looked. It is then that I noticed over 2500 updates to do. I thought this was odd, but said ok, without researching further. Nothing had been done at this point. I was not fooling around with anything. Once the update was done, it suggested a reboot. Oh, and possibly one more important fact. I use Nvidia drivers, and it would not load X. This always happens when the kernel is updated. I tried to use my current driver but it gave errors. Something about path errors and all sorts of issues. So I managed to find a switch to update the Nvidia driver from the bash prompt. The new driver loaded. It was after the reboot that I started seeing the boxes all over. Nothing in Yast2 would show normally.
At this point I started trying to figure out how to fix what I thought was corruption of some sort.
I started seeing these boxes all over. Yast2, all had boxes instead of text. I did a zypper --help and misread/misunderstood. I then ran zypper dup… I did NOT change any of the repositories to 12.3, but when it came back up after pulling in hundreds of files it was 12.3. ?? so after I realized what I did, I DID go change all of the repositories to 12.3, but it sounds like I have made things potentially worse, however… most of Yast2 can now be read.
I installed all fonts there are and no joy. So an existing font must be corrupt, or the Nvidia driver? Is that even possible?
At this point, I think I have no choice but to go read the upgrade docs and do it again, properly this time and see what happens. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will fix itself. Or would I be better to use a DVD and do an upgrade from DVD?
Create a new user and login into that and check whether issue exists for that user to. Also check whether the user which you are “using” is added to the “video” group in YaST.
I don’t know much about that stuff as it is not installed on any of our machines – it would create too much help-desk traffic from worried users being bothered about “updates” that are beyond there remit or capability.
I definitely believe the problem started with apper. For sure and without a doubt. I am surprised others haven’t had issues with getting flooded with 2500+ updates at once causing issues. I am guessing it was a server glitch or something. If I had been screwing around with dates, or something I would suspect myself, but my system was stable and I was reading email when I saw the notice. It was only after this mass update that things went south.
Unfortunately I will never know what got corrupted. It was beyond my ability to figure out. I I tried adding every font there was, I tried an upgrade via command line, I tried it via disk. NOthing worked. I finally gave in and started over. I will be a little less likely to update as soon as it comes out. I think I need to wait a month.
