Unable to install Type 1 fonts in Windows XP

Start with the laptop model and drill down. That will get you to:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/previousversions.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&SystemID=WRK_NBK_PNT_P4_M4300&releaseid=R191014&vercnt=5&deviceid=13675&formatcnt=1&releasetype=DRVR&servicetag=&catid=-1&libid=6&impid=-1&osl=en&os=WW1

Which has 4 available downloads.

Also, Nvidia techinically doesn't list my card either, these are integrated chipsets and they expect HP/Dell who-ever to support and provide drivers for them.

I looked at the Dell site and it only lists one other video driver for the card in this troublesome laptop. One from Feb of this year. I am doubting that will fix it. :(

Oh what's even better is nVidia doesn't even list the card at all. I am not sure when it was introduced, but I got a feeling it's goint to be some hard searching.

For me, I can install any .ttf without a problem (at least the few I tried). It seems to be only effecting .pfm/.pfb

I am going to install the older driver this afternoon and get back with what I find.

On the Dell site on the download page for the video drivers there should be a link in the upper right that says "Other Versions" that will lead you to a list of past drivers.

This is not fun at all, but I think your best bet is to uninstall the nvidia drivers you have now, and start at the oldest and work forward until it breaks again. The safest way to do this is to add/remove programs on the nvidia drivers and restart each time you load a new set (I confess I'm not always very careful about that process, but evidently I just love increasing my frustration index to the maximum tolerably level).

If absolutely none of the drivers provided by Dell solve the problem, you'll likely have to go hunting around the net for even older drivers. Like I said, the version that ended up working for me was pretty far back there and just happened to be the most recent provided by HP (since this machine is several years old they apparently stopped updating them).

In the meantime I suppose we both should shoot a mail to nvidia (though they tend to have little interest in supporting integrated or vendor supplied video cards vs. their own retail products). Understandably, that is part of the deal. They sell the cards to the integrator at wholesale becuase the integrator is supposed to carry the support costs (kind of like when PhotoDeluxe or some odd consumer product is bundled with every wacky scanner and camera on the market). So far so good on my old drivers, and I just discovered they have "windowshade" like functionality in addition to single click monitor moves in the title bar, which is sweet...

Good luck, video conflicts are always a heart ache...

I would most humbly recommend that you contact nVidia and complain to them. You have some fairly convincing evidence that their driver and/or accompanying "added value" (ha ha) software is mucking around in the system somewhere where it shouldn't be!

- Dov

Thomas, the XP version you are loading, is it Dell's preloaded XP or is an off the shelf XP?

I am having the same problem with new laptop we just got in.
Specs:
Dell Precision M6300
nVidia Quadro FX 3600

It works on all our other Precision M90s and such. Those all probably do not have the newest driver.

I am gonna start playing with drivers and I will post back here what I find.

Hi guys, sorry it's been so long since my posting....I've been reloading Windows!

Thanks to Gary's comments I've found the root cause of my problems but I still don't have a final solution.

I'm running

Windows XP SP2D
Dell 4300 Precision Laptop
nVidia Quadro FX 360M
Dell 2005FPW monitor

I re-formatted the hard drive, loaded XP and started loading the misc. drivers I got from Dell's website. I go to the video driver and thought maybe I should load the fonts first. Nah, I went ahead and loaded the nVidia driver. I tried to load the fonts. Wouldn't work. So I uninstalled the nVidia driver and presto the fonts loaded no problems. So I re-loaded the nVidia driver and the fonts wouldn't come up in any of the programs I use (Word, Quark, etc.). I can see them in the fonts folder, but when I double click on them I can an error message (__.PFB was not a valid font file). Remove nVidia and the fonts work fine, but my monitor perforamnce is horrible.

So nVidia is clearly the problem. I went to nVidia's website to see if I could download a driver from them and they only have "partner certified drivers" available. I tried the ones listed for Adobe, but they didn't work.

Do either of you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Tom

Glad you figured it out and thanks for posting the solution.

Aaarrrrrgggggg.........DOH! I'm a moron...

Well, I realized on of the other things that happened when I rolled back to pre-SP2, was my video drivers died. So, finally it dawned on my to take the basic troubleshooting step of VGA mode and boom, type 1 fonts installing again. Never believe the error message I suppose.

I haven't reinstalled ATM yet, but I might as well, now that I can remove it and restore the windows registry entries blindfolded.

Anyway, rolled my video drivers waaaayyyyyy back to the last set issued by HP for this machine, and those are working.
Some of the basics of the failure case:

NVIDIA Quadro FX2000 running Nvidia supplied drivers v.176.04_quadro_winxp2k_english_whql w/Dual LCDs at 1680x1050

Windows 2003 Server Standard SP2
HP XW8000 Workstation

The success case:
Same as above except NVIDIA drivers are HP supplied:
sp31860 - 72.13 Rev. B (7 Dec 2005).exe

Note to self, don't ever forget to try VGA first again....although I'm sure if another 9 years go by without it solving anything, I'll forget again.

PS: (no pun intended) ATMD 4.1 works fine now too).

I removed 4.1 after it went wacky (which happened sometime after installing Win2k3 SP2). I just uninstalled SP 2 after deleting every reference to PFM and PFB in the reg and (while just about everything else broke) Type 1 fonts were installing again (despite claiming they were corrupt as I installed). Tried the steps that seemed to be working previously to my satisfaction (installed 4.1 and Type 1 fonts were working) installed SP2 and boom, invalid or damaged messages..

My next move when I have time is to remove SP2 again, not install any ATM at all and see if I can keep it working through the SP2 install and the associated bevy of massive reinstalls required after pulling it out. (Oh, and I did along the way try the ATM fix reg entry, but it has yet to shake anything loose at all).