I commented line 267
Result "garbled"
Uncommented 267

Then commented 226
Result "garbled"
Uncommented

Changed Mail Setup from phpMail()
to: sendmail
Result "garbled"

Changed Mail Setup to: SMTP
and SMTP host to: yyymail.no.yyycable.net
Result "garbled"

I'm going to keep experimenting with the mail setup tho'
thanks for your patience!

As well as xoops running, I also have another private site for family tree. For both programs you can register and these are the results from both. The Family tree works without any garbled text. The xoops site is still garbled. I'm not sure if you can decipher the details and if it helps in any way

This is the info from the exim4 mainlog

Xoops register which sends emails but 'garbled'

2010-11-18 08:23:12 1PJ7GS-0001Fa-Km <= andrew.xxx@yyy.ca U=nobody P=local S=685
2010-11-18 08:23:12 1PJ7GS-0001Fd-PK <= andrew.xxx@yyy.ca U=nobody P=local S=1208
2010-11-18 08:23:13 1PJ7GS-0001Fa-Km => andrew.xxx@yyy.ca R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost H=yyymail.cg.yyycable.net [64.59.128.135]
2010-11-18 08:23:13 1PJ7GS-0001Fa-Km Completed
2010-11-18 08:23:13 1PJ7GS-0001Fd-PK => blobby@yyy1.ca R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost H=yyymail.cg.yyycable.net [24.71.223.43]
2010-11-18 08:23:13 1PJ7GS-0001Fd-PK Completed

Family tree register which sends emails and no problems

2010-11-18 08:27:45 1PJ7Kr-0001Ft-Sx <= nobody@yyymail.no.yyycable.net U=nobody P=local S=1294
2010-11-18 08:27:46 1PJ7Ks-0001Fx-2B <= nobody@yyymail.no.yyycable.net U=nobody P=local S=1288
2010-11-18 08:27:46 1PJ7Kr-0001Ft-Sx => norbut@yyy1.ca R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost H=yyymail.cg.yyycable.net [64.59.128.135]
2010-11-18 08:27:46 1PJ7Kr-0001Ft-Sx Completed
2010-11-18 08:27:46 1PJ7Ks-0001Fx-2B => andrew.xxx@yyy.ca R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost H=yyymail.cg.yyycable.net [64.59.128.135]
2010-11-18 08:27:46 1PJ7Ks-0001Fx-2B Completed

I've changed the email addresses.

Unless you want to receive a lot of spam, it's better not to post your email/host data..

Thank you: I also removed the "id=......" from the first two lines

Thanks Mamba & Ghia:
You have both been very helpful with my 'garbled' page dilemma. After we had all exhausted many options, I decided this wasn't a XOOPS error. I backtracked some of my ubuntu file changes and methodically worked thro' each one to see if it solved the problem, especially the php.ini file. Just when I was ready for quitting, I reverted the zlib.output.... back to their original state

; Note: You need to use zlib.output_handler instead of the standard
; output_handler, or otherwise the output will be corrupted.
; http://php.net/zlib.output-compression
zlib.output_compression = Off
;changed by andrew for files
;zlib.output_compression = On

; http://php.net/zlib.output-compression-level
zlib.output_compression_level = -1
;changed by andrew for files
;zlib.output_compression_level = 5

Voila, it worked and I now have my xoops back and running properly.

Again, many thanks and good luck with 2.5