Weird character issues

[kittyrar]

I've been having issues with my PC for a while now, what happens is that no matter what operating system I install, i get weird breaks through the characters and the placement of them goes all wacky.

Examples:
http://img401.imageshack.us/i/1000091h.jpg/
http://img260.imageshack.us/i/1000092.jpg/

Also, in Windows the computer will not let me run any programs except file explorer and Internet Explorer. I couldn't even run mspaint to take some proper screenshots.

The video is in proper resolution the first time I install the OS, but then goes to 800x600 a couple of restarts later.

I have also tried Linux, but even after redownloading and reburning several times it won't run the installer, and if I run the LiveCD it just gets the letters all over the place as seen above.

I've narrowed it down to either the Motherboard or the CPU, any ideas on what to do?

 

[kimsland]

To me it looks like Video Memory corruption
Firstly blow out all internal Dust, and reseat any addon Video card

Then download and run a > Memtest scan (note many Video cards use the System Ram)

 

[The_Other_One]

kimsland hasthe right idea. I'm thinking it's either a ram or video card issue. Seeing as you're having some problems with programs actually running, I'm wodnering if it's ram related...

Is your video card built-in or dedicated? Could you provide some specs of about your system? If you don't know, PC Wizard would tell you everthing.