Thanks to longbob72, deleting the congfig file solved the preferences problem, however I then lostmy the PHP fiat display.
Thanks to kolloh, upgrading to 2.7.17 also fixed the preferences problem, but again still no PHP fiat display available. I guest I will just have to live with the no PHP fiat display until that is included again from Bitcoinaverage.
I don't think is a problem from the Bitcoinaverage as it's showing both in my 2.7.12 and in my 2.7.17 electrum wallets, in Windows and in Linux. You can always opt for another bitcoin exchange rate provider like Kraken, they tend to work everytime.