What is wrong with my Nikon D50?

My digital camera has been taking pictures like this. This has happened before, and it has fixed itself after I performed a hard reset and let it sit for a while… But as of right now nothing is working…

I'm not a camera technician, but it looks like a sensor gone bad (possibly damaged from getting touched or cleaned).

If the sensor or controller board were just malfunctioning, then I don't think that it would pattern like that. The best thing to do is contact Nikon at 1-800-NIKON-UX (1-800-645-6689). When you talk to someone there they should be able to give you an e-mail addy to send the image to so they can diagnose the issue better. Although, it will probably involve sending the camera into them and getting a repair estimate.