Is this a graphics card problem? Horizontally scrambled screen

Have a look at the screenshot. This 'horizontal mess' occurred randomly. The machine was sitting there for a few minutes and it suddenly changed to this, froze. Note the mouse cursor not messed up, it's above the mess, but the computer did freeze so I couldn't move the cursor, couldn't Ctrl+Alt+Del. The only option was to press the power button for 8 seconds.

When I rebooted, I got to the login screen, and in a few seconds, it happened again! (I didn't take a picture)

I then booted into safe mode, uninstalled the graphics card drivers.
Booted into normal mode, installed the drivers again.

It hasn't happened since then, but what I don't know is whether this is a graphics card problem or a RAM problem.

It's an ATI Radeon HD 5850, only a month old.
Running on Windows 7 64 bit.

I have ATI Overdrive (which is an option in the Catalyst control panel) disabled.

I've also run FurMark for an hour to see if there were problems, it ran fine.

So my questions are -
What sort of a problem is this?
Troubleshooting steps, things I should look at?
Any stability software I can run to see if my graphics card is OK?

This has also happened to me. Yes it is because of the graphics card. It is time to get the graphics card repaired or replaced. Right now it might be okay but it will eventually come back :(

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Any stability software I can run to see if my graphics card is OK?

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There are plenty of software to check the GC. Let me see if I can suggest some...

Edit

http://download.cnet.com/Video-Card-...-10418474.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4109

I agree with Sid! You need to get a better graphics card. That pic reminds me of the quality of some the programs on the Amiga 20 plus years ago. The screen would go like in the above picture but it might have just been some cool effect to take the users might off loading time.

In vista there is a tool call "reliability & performance monitor". The reliability monitor shows you what happened to your pc on a certain date. It might show you a hardware failure for the day you experienced this.

OK (and just for anyone's reference) this may also be related to this thread on the AMD forums

http://forums.amd.com/game/messagevi...VIEWTMP=Linear

I'll try the benchmarking software and read through the thread.

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Originally Posted by drivenbywhat

In vista there is a tool call "reliability & performance monitor". The reliability monitor shows you what happened to your pc on a certain date. It might show you a hardware failure for the day you experienced this.

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I'll look for this too.

base on the picture above, i think the video card is hot. Try to google gpuz to check the temperature of video card and see if it is. Whe the problem is true because of heating, you need to put some cooler to your video card to solve your problem.

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Originally Posted by bloodsside14

base on the picture above, i think the video card is hot. Try to google gpuz to check the temperature of video card and see if it is. Whe the problem is true because of heating, you need to put some cooler to your video card to solve your problem.

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you may not need a cooler. Mine was just too close to another card.

Remove and reseat the card, that's data corruption. Truthfully it looks like a driver error though. The screen and card are functioning at different resolutions

LO and behold (that's a pun on Lord Orwell), that's what I ended up doing after a while of going through everything.

There's one difference in what I did before and after: I eventually also uninstalled the drivers and then installed the driver that came with the CD rather than the ATI website. It's suddenly... fine. No crashes, no reboots... dude, what?!

I know, I should have tried it earlier but I just *assumed* the catalyst drivers on ATI's website would be the most stable.

So one of the two things I did solved the problem, so thanks for responding everyone.

Mendhak, Monitor it for a week...

If it is what I suggested then you will get that problem back (not that I want it to :lol: )...

It is a Graphic card problem. Last month it happened to my PC too. And I used all tricks but at the end I changed my graphic card and after that it is fine. :)

hair color ideas

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Originally Posted by Lord Orwell

you may not need a cooler. Mine was just too close to another card.

Remove and reseat the card, that's data corruption. Truthfully it looks like a driver error though. The screen and card are functioning at different resolutions

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You can't say what happening to his monitor. Because you don't see the video card technically right? so my comment is only one of the choices you can lean on.

Did you try to put the cable to built in video card? What happen? Still the same? if yes maybe the monitor is not working properly. Just give a try;)

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Originally Posted by bloodsside14

You can't say what happening to his monitor. Because you don't see the video card technically right?

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You are incorrect. I could tell exactly what was wrong by looking at the garbage photo. You see how it is skewed to the side? That is a sure sign the system is outputting the wrong horizontal resolution. The only question then is what caused it. I was betting on loose video card because the system was still functioning properly and you can actually see garbage information on the screen below and above the desktop area displayed.

While it is true you can get graphical errors from overheating, they almost always occur in 3d applications only due to the stress on the card, and while overheating ram chips on the video card (not the processor) can give really strange effects, none of them will give the sideways skewing you see there.

The only other option i would have suggested for him was that he was connected to an lcd and it was showing an out of range resolution it didn't support, but for some reason was displaying it anyway. That is easy to check though.

Attachment 111661
Dear Friends..
I am facing this problem which i captured from my lappy during facing that scrambled screen problem.
Black dots are just to hide the facebook ID.
I face this problem randomly . there is no time for it.... it happens again n again even i move my mouse cursor and go away after few seconds....
All things were being working properly but just screen scrambled ...
my system Is Dell COre I3... please help me out....
I even replaced that compound gum over processor... n remove all the dust.. bt it still happening....
My graphics spec are.. Intel HD family Graphics 3000
dedicated video memory 32MB
total available memory 1664

your lcd controller is going bad

Yeah, it's the graphic card problem. Happens to me once on my COmpaq Evo N610c. I was so ****ing smartass and fried the mobo because i've seen the method with oven on YouTube. Trust me, just DON'T DO IT. YOU WILL REGRET IT. Go to the laptop repair service and get the GPU/video card/graphics card fixed or replaced. it's called "Reballing", which is the method to replace all the aluminum balls below the GPU and heat them from the outside to get the GPU connected perfectly again to the mobo.