Digital cameras 101

[kit]

hello!  i'm having a problem and wonder if anyone out there could help.  i've had my camera for awhile now, and its been very reliable.  but when i took a few pictures the other day, they came out very strangely--like very drippy watercolors, out of focus with weird up and down streaks; sort of interesting actually, but definitely not right.  they show up that way on the display that way, too.  it did this for a day, and i turned it off for awhile, and later it was back to normal (well, mostly normal...there was a slight red tinge to the pictures) but today when i turned it on again it did the same streaky, blurry thing as before.  i tried various different settings with no change.  when i look at pictures i have taken before this, they show up fine on the display.  i did let a friend use it before this started happening, so i don't know if some setting i don't understand got switched or something.  but its all very frustrating, because i love my camera!  any suggestions?  
thanks!
kit

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Kit and welcome to the Q&A Forum,

Sorry to hear about the problems with your Nikon 5400. While there is bad news, there may be good news.

In January of this year, Nikon issued a Service Advisory for some cameras including the Nikon 5400. The problems you're experiencing may very well be eligible for free repair even though the camera is out of warranty. Call Nikon to confirm this and, if so, for instructions about where to ship the camera.

Here is a summary of the Service Advisory:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-care/repair/nikon-advisory1-07.php

Hope it all goes well.

Nikon support:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/5/support.php

[Deb]

Hi, if you've already tried resetting the camera and you've reloaded the firmware and neither one of those things fixed your problem, then it may be the problem lies with the "electronic image components" mentioned in the advisory. Nikon is usually pretty good about service repairs. Hope your camera is up and running correctly again soon!