Graphics issue

[RayG]

Have an ongoing issue with some sort of barcoding effect.

If I click on my bookmarks or any other menu selection in Firefox, I'm often presented with this type of output, which obscures the very text I'm trying to see.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/raygavel/barcodingissue.jpg

I have removed or disabled all add-ons, and updated the driver for my graphics card, which has made no difference.

Any ideas?

RayG

[Pulvinar]

My first guess would be a hardware problem: that's a common bad-memory pattern. Have another graphics card to swap in?

[RayG]

No, don't really have another card to swap in, would have to go with the on-board graphics.

If it were a hardware issue though, shouldn't I be seeing the same type of thing when online games are being played, or in other browsers?

RayG

[Pulvinar]

In general, yes, but Firefox could be using some extended graphics capability that's broken. Or it could be something else. Did you change something to cause this?

[RayG]

Hmmm... I figure it has to be something to do with Firefox or I'd be seeing problems with other software. Thing is, I don't recall changing anything to cause the issue, though I'm not the only one that uses this computer.

RayG

[commandlinegamer]

What does it look like when you start the machine?

If you get weird characters during the initial stages of booting, i.e. before Windows starts, that's generally a sign of faulty graphics memory.

[Sam.I.Am]

Yeah, checkerboarding like that is a hardware problem. Lately Firefox has been doing a lot of updates (and unfortunately it has become so bloated of late that it wouldn't surprise me if it tries to use memory that isn't normally used in an attempt to save system resources for other things.

All I can say is try the onboard graphics (pull the card that you have now just to test it out) to see if it persists. .I>.....f it doesn't then you can try either rolling back Firefox to a previous version or trying a different browser with your graphics card plugged back in or go buy a new one.

You might also want to check to see if someone updated the drivers for your graphics card recently. It's a long shot, but if they installed a beta driver that might do it as well.

Good luck hunting down that Gremlin...