On reverting unexplained spontaneous alteration of language

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2008/11/13 10:01 -05:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2008/11/13/9065195.aspx


Cheekheon asked via the Contact link:

Hi,

I have a NEC Desktop Computer running Windows XP Home Edition SP 2 with an ATI X300 (RV370) display card.

A few months ago, I did a security update from Microsoft and was advised to update my ATI display driver. So, I updated it accordingly to Version 8.6 (Display driver only).

However, the language of the system boot up display and the Windows Advanced Options Menu changed from English to another European language after the driver update.

The language is similarly changed when booting up a Linux LiveCD although the same LiveCD would display correctly in English when it is being booted up on another computer.

It may be pertinent to note that only the language of the system boot up display has changed.  Windows XP and Linux are still in English after the booting.  The BIOS Setup Utility is also still in English.

I have googled for a solution for the past few months without any success.

I would appreciate very much your expert opinion on what could be the problem and how to resolve it.  Thanks.

Regular readers may already know what to do here to get the situation fixed up....

I described the technique you use indirectly in

and more directly described the problem in

Now I have no idea why any kind of install would change this setting, but it is easy enough to change it back using this technique. :-)

 

This post brought to you by(U+a0c6, a.k.a. YI SYLLABLE MUP)


cheekheon on 29 Dec 2008 12:48 AM:

I have set the Regional and Language Options of Windows XP to 'English' but the problem still persists.

The problem may be in BIOS or some hidden system boot up language setting on the computer since only the system boot up display is affected be it booting from the harddisk or from a Linux LiveCD.

Windows XP or Linux is still in English after booting up.

Anyway thanks for your advice.


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referenced by

2010/08/02 How to encourage XP to keep QWERTY for the logon screen?

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