Wait, my graphics card DID die, right??

Hi,

Without warning, my monitor turn into a bunch of vertical different colored lines, and I thought that my video card was the problem.. Note that this would happen at random - during a game, or just surfing the web. Was this the graphics card dying or a bad driver?
 
It could very well be a bad driver, your graphics or your monitor. You have to work scientifically here to eliminate your components one by one as suspects. You can quickly eliminate your monitor by using another one and see if the problem happens again, most likely it will, so then you can try changing the driver to another version and see if the problem persists.
 
Well it's not the monitor since it's working on onboard fine right now.

I was using an old 5.5 Catalyst driver so that might have been the problem.. I'll try the graphics card with a 5.7 now.
 
You shouldn't be running old drivers, why would you do that if there is a later one. I always use the latest drivers.
 
I don't like the newest ATi drivers because the hot keys function and the 3D game brightness controls don't work with any of my games.

Anyways, my graphics card isn't dead! I just played a few rounds of Battlefield 2 for about an hour and it worked fine.. It must have been the drivers.
 
besides the monitor, it could just be its cable.
if it had been snagged, pinched, or pulled, it could have a damaged wire inside of it that will cause it to appear fine when the cable is positioned just right and not at other times.

my other pc's monitor is like this. unless the cable is taped to the top of the case, a broken wire in it makes the screen lose the green hue so everything ends up looking shades of purple.
 
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