I recently installed a new MediaWiki but when I create a page the box with bold text and other options is gone and when I make tables, no borders appear only white and text. Why is this?
Topic on Project:Support desk
Can you possibly give us a screenshot and other details including your MediaWiki version?
The tables part is by design: you have to explicitly set the style (including borders) for each table you input. A "wikitable" class might work out of the box, but i wouldn't know since i never tried testing such a feature.
As for the buttons around the edit box, there might be a configuration setting somewhere. Actually, Special:Search/edit page buttons suggests Manual:FAQ#How_do_I_add_more_buttons_on_the_edit_page.3F, which links to Manual:Custom edit buttons. Do you have Extension:WikiEditor installed and enabled?