Weird video issue

[jimnyc]

I'm seeing sporadic blinking colors on my computer. For example, along the title bar of my browser, and at the bottom bar, I'll see like spots sometimes, or long lines, which appear to be RGB colors. Sometimes if I run my mouse over it they disappear. Other times they stay. It's not just in the browser either, as I see it even on the desktop. If I right click on the desktop sometimes, the shell menu that pops up with the choices, sometimes real quick the colors will blink inside of there too. It seems like the longer the computer goes without being rebooted the worse it gets. When I get up in the AM, the colors are at the top and bottom and are annoying and won't go away. But a quick reboot and all is back to normal.

If it were bad hardware, or heat related, a reboot shouldn't fix anything. Hardware issues are very rarely fixed by reboots or software. If it was a card going bad, or defective, then why would the issue go away with a quick reboot? The heat stays the same and it's back and running in about 2-3 minutes tops.

So now I think driver related. If it's back and better after a reboot, maybe it's a driver. Well, I updated and still the same. I tried rolling back and still the same. I just can't seem to shake it.

Thus far, my opinion? The perfect storm! I think the video driver is butting heads with something else, like maybe Java or Flash - both of which I've tried updating and rolling back. Right now, things are all up to date. This issue never existed until about a month or 2 ago, then it's come and gone since. But always temporarily fixed with a reboot, but always coming back in some fashion. I am going to try and get a screenshot today, or maybe even a quick movie clip, to show what it is I am seeing.

I am running Windows 7 Premium 64 bit and this is an AMD Radeon HD 5700 card, now running with the latest drivers.

[jimnyc]

It was doing it again when I right clicked on the desktop. I clicked about 30 times before finally capturing it. It shows this color for a split second before reverting back to normal. This is also what I often see at the top of my browser bar and bottom, as well as other open programs.

http://imageshack.us/a/img545/6466/rkqg.jpg

[jafar00]

It sure looks video card related. How about trying to boot into an Ubuntu live CD (from USB) to rule out software?

[jimnyc]

It sure looks video card related. How about trying to boot into an Ubuntu live CD (from USB) to rule out software?

Funny you bring that up, as I have been booting off USB into Linux the past few days (Linux Mint). I don't see the issue in there that I can recall. I also have spent a great deal of time in Windows safe mode, and the problem doesn't appear there either.

But I posted similar on AMD's video card support forums, only to look around and find out this problem is widespread through various of their cards and looks like a load of people are waiting for new drivers to fix the issue. I would just downgrade if I could, but they don't seem to have an area where you can download older versions. I would like to try that as a test at least and see if the issue goes away.

[jimnyc]

So I found a legit site that has the last few years of drivers available. I suppose I'll have to test a few and see what happens. What a PITA though, as you need to make sure you remove all traces of the current drivers and install the "new" version, with all the reboots and other time consuming crap. And then even if I get the problem to go away by going in reverse, I'll have to be on the outlook for upcoming versions and test again as they come out. :(

[jafar00]

Good to know it's just a software thing. Buying a new card is not easy. I just got a new Nvidia GTX780 and it was hard to decide whether to go 770 or 780 because both were similar. :)

[jimnyc]

I think now I'm finding out that it's actually a Firefox issue. When the colors appear, if I minimize and maximize the browser, they go away. If they start appearing on the desktop, close and re-open the browser. Everyone is blaming various video cards in the AMD/ATI family, when it's likely our browsers. Then I go to Mozilla support and of course find more AMD users over there. Oh well, will monitor and await upgrades!

[jimnyc]

This is frustrating, especially from someone who did this for a living for the longest time, and especially when it's regular old hardware issues. Just when I think I have it nailed down, something else happens to change my mind.

Now I'm leaning back towards the video card itself being the issue. It is in fact happening outside of Firefox and other programs. I downloaded a stress test program to test my video card and didn't even let it finish. As soon as I started the test the screen slowly started to fill with the spots and sporadic colors. I guess the more it's asked to do the more it creates the pixels around the screen. But then like right now, no problem at all. I suppose I should do something before it outright blows up though!

This card is an AMD Radeon HD5700, running off of a PCI-e 2.1 port. I forget the memory for sure, but I believe it's 1gig. Anyway, I'm thinking of getting just an upgraded version from AMD, the Firepro $154, which has 1gig of memory, and would be very similar to what I have now but with a lower profile. The card I have now takes up 2 slots. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1506396&CatId=7005

Or maybe stay in the Radeon family, one with 2gig of memory, but much, much cheaper, so must have much lower quality. This is the Radeon HD6570, and goes for $69 - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1440044&CatId=7005

Or even better, any of you want to recommend any reasonable cards? It needs to have a DVI connection which is what I'm using now. My motherboards slots are PCI express 2.1. I am NOT a gamer and very rarely play any types of games anymore that require the crazy video cards. Nonetheless, I am willing to go $175-200 for a card if I must. Anyone?