backup doesnt restore due to duplicates in the states table

[RayH1066]

Hi. Using VM2. I have a weird problem with data within the states table which is causing restore from backup to fail. The states column, state_3 and state_2 seem to hold their values in the encoding of the country entered. So Arab states are shown in Arabic, Russian in Russian etc. The restore function cannot read this data and so it returns ? instead. Due to the encoding error it reads about 150 lines as duplicates and fails the retore. Hopefully I can attach a screen shot of what I mean. I am looking to understand the cause and to find a resolution. Due to this error currencies cant be set along with other other setting data paremeter problems. Basically, the system is usless unless I can resolve this issue. Historically, I have inherited this 'problem' and am now looking to resolve it. Joomla was recently updated from the old 1.5 to the newer 2.5.7 vers. I don't know if the problem dates to then or prior to that because I was not involved. Advice, direvction, ideas etc would be very welcome.

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