A Font that Reboots my PC

Post general font related questions (e.g. how to install, convert and use fonts) and requests (looking for fonts, designers etc.) here.
Post Reply
Bhikkhu Pesala
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 9877
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 5:28 am
Location: Seven Kings, London UK
Contact:

A Font that Reboots my PC

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

This is not a bug in the font as far as I can tell, but I'm curious to know how a font can have such a dramatic effect.
  1. Extract the attached archive to a folder.
  2. Open default.hlml in Opera 10.50 or Chrome Iron
My PC reboots immediately — other users report a BSOD.

If you delete or move the font "\css\MASTERPLAN___.ttf" referenced in the stylesheet, the crash no longer occurs.

This bug affects Web Page font rendering using the @fontface attribute to load a custom font. The custom font is unusually complex, having many nodes and contours in each glyph. FontView.exe displays the font very slowly, and although Firefox can display the page without crashing, it does so extremely slowly, and zoom is unusable, taking about 1 minute to zoom in on my old PC.

Loading the same default.html page in Chrome Iron also reboots my PC. Internet Explorer has no problem because it doesn't support web fonts.

If the font is made simpler, it no longer causes a crash.
Attachments
Reboot PC.7z
(637.57 KiB) Downloaded 393 times
My FontsReviews: MainTypeFont CreatorHelpFC15 + MT12.0 @ Win 10 64-bit build 19045.2486
Erwin Denissen
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11158
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:41 am
Location: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: A Font that Reboots my PC

Post by Erwin Denissen »

It sounds like an issue with Windows rasterizer. We don't want to risk a crash here, so we won't investigate this any further.
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
Dick Pape
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 1360
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:19 pm
Location: North Dallas, Texas

Re: A Font that Reboots my PC

Post by Dick Pape »

This kind of reaction comes from handling some complex fonts. My computer gives a black screen. Others get BSODs or a reboot as you have. I get infinite loops from my ATI video card - supposedly. I've changed cards and doesn't help.

Seems to be related to how much memory you have (though not entirely). Others say to remove Clear Type to simplify processing: Ctl Panel/Display (Display Properties)/Appearance/Effects/ "Use the following method to smooth edges ..." omit ClearType - use Standard. That seems to be most reliable.

Often occurs because of a single very large glyph not just a very large font. I will remove glyphs as alternative. That font (Master Plan)is not obviously large, so who knows!

Rasterizer is good answer.
Post Reply