Visual Verification letters not visible

[spaarks]

I have just installed SMF 1.1.7 and cannot see verification picture on the registration page.
I have tried IE7 and Firefox (with auto load pix enabled).
In Registration/Settings I cannot see the sample either.

(Yes I have read the other thread on this subject, it doesn't address my problem)

[ThorstenE]

have you tested with default theme and default "english" language files? can you post a link to your forum please?

[SlammedDime]

can you post a link to your site?

[spaarks]

I've fiddled around with both browser and smf settings and the verification letters are now visible. Not sure what I did but I think it is to do with setting character codes to UTF-8.