# [SOLVED] Video card displaying colored squares



## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

Hi,

I have a Radeon HD 5900 with a very interesting problem. Out of nowhere it would start displaying colored squares on the screen and then usually becomes unresponsive. I initially thought it was a driver issue. So I wiped the catalyst drivers with driver sweeper and installed them fresh. That did not solve the problem. So then I concluded it must be a hardware issue. However, my brother's machine has the exact same hardware without the issues. So I swapped my hard drives into his machine and the problem still persisted on his hardware. 

So now I know it's a software issue but I have no idea what it might be. I'm attaching a thumbnail screenshot that Chrome captured before the machine became unresponsive. 

Please help!


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## DBCooper (Jun 11, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Hi there,

I don't think it's a hard-drive problem but possibly a video card problem. Since your brother has the same video card on his computer, try swapping out his video card and install it on your computer as test...see if the same problem continues. If not, the video card on your computer has gone faulty.


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## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

DBCooper,

That's almost exactly what I did. I took my harddrives and put them into his machine. His machine started having the same problem when my harddrives (and therefore software) were in it.

The reason for the harddrive swap is not that I though the problem with the harddrives. I wanted to test what happens when the software installed on my machine runs on his hardware.


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## DBCooper (Jun 11, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Hi,

No, I didn't mean hard drive swap. I want you to switch video cards, take the video card on your brother's computer and install it on yours. You said your brother's computer has the exact same computer specs(Please correct me if im wrong). Thanks.


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## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Putting my harddrives into his machine then seeing if the problem would occur on his machine accomplishes exactly the same thing as putting his video card
into my machine.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

PC Specs & age?
Pre- Built Brand & Model Number
Custom Built- Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU.

Swapping Hdd's is not a valid test.The OS is tied to the Mobo in each PC.
The image you posted would indicate a graphics issue.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

The pixelation appears quite big for a graphics issue, have any malware or virus checks been done?


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## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

How is swapping harddrives not a valid test? My OS booted just fine from my brother's hardware. Except that it's still having the same issue. So now I know it can't be a hardware issue since there are no graphics glitches when booted from his HDD. 

The PC is an Alienware Aurora. Don't remember the exact model number. The BIOS version is A10
i7 X980 CPU @ 3.33Ghz (6 core)
9GB RAM
Radeon HD 5970 graphics card
256GB SSD running the OS and 1TB HDD for other stuff
Age: Around 3 years

I scanned for viruses uses McAfee maybe I should try a better anti virus like Kaspersky.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*



maxaon3003 said:


> I scanned for viruses uses McAfee maybe I should try a better anti virus like Kaspersky.


I'd suggest Malwarebytes. :thumb:


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Do the colored squares move on the screen?
Looking at the picture they seem to be concentrated at the bottom, almost tetris like, as if they are falling.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Problems like this are either the video card is damaged or over heating or there is a virus. It will have nothing to do with the hard drive even if the hard drive is damaged.

Hard drives cannot affect the display in that way.

Try a different monitor.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

The drive itself may not affect the display, but the software stored on that drive does. A corrupted operating system doesn't always result in a blue screen. Virus infections can and do target any component of the PC, including the display.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Brand & Model of the PSU? 650W is the minimum recommended for a 5970. OEM PSU's are commonly lower quality and 3 yrs. is most likely at or past the PSU's warranty.


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## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Guys, I know it's not a harddrive problem. The point of putting my harddrives into my brother's PC is to check whether it was a software or harddware problem by booting my OS on identical hardware that I know is good. It's basically the same as doing a motherboard, videocard and CPU swap. Due to the fact that the problem persisted on identical hardware that I knew to be good I was able to tell it wasn't a hardware problem. 


Anyways I think Panther063 and people who suggested it's a virus were right. I scanned it with MalwareBytes and it was able to find something called "Backdoor.agent.TSK", a trojan that McAfee, AVG and even Kaspersky missed. After removing it the problem has not recurred so far. Crossing my fingers that it is fixed.

To Tyree:

The PSU is 1000W but I do not remember the brand. Is there a way to find out from device manager or something?

P.S

AVG is a piece of crap worse than a virus.


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## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Ok the problem is still not solved. It disappeared during normal use but I can still produce when I use the windows taskbar to semi-transparently superimpose one window over another.

Attached screenshot. 

Next steps: I will will scan will ESET. Try another monitor. If this doesn't work then I think I may need to reinstall windows.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*



maxaon3003 said:


> Next steps: I will will scan will ESET.


Good move, this combination usually gets rid of any persistent virus or malware. :thumb:


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## maxaon3003 (Nov 25, 2010)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Ok, so the problem ended up being caused by my monitor. It went away after I reset the color/gamma adjustments. I have no idea how it could have been causing the problem but the proof is in the pudding. 

Also in the process I got rid of a couple of trojans. One detected by malwarebytes and another one by ESET.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Video card displaying colored squares*

Glad you resolved the problem. Thread marked Solved.


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