Geforce 4 4200 fan doesn't work

[godfire]

So...I was just looking inside of my new system, and I noticed that the fan for my Geforce 4 4200 wasn't actually turning. Needless to say, this alarmed me to some degree. I had transferred the card from a previous system, and had never noticed before whether or not the fan was operating. In fact, there was no way I could even see it before because of the number of peripherals I had in. I don't know if it's been like this the whole time or if this is a recent thing.

How bad is this for the card? I'm assuming that since it has a fan, it needs the cooling...but I don't know how long this has been going on. I shut down the system right away, but I really don't know what to do about it. What do you guys think I should do? I've had the card for a while, and I'm not sure about the warranty...and things have been functional till now. Suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Unforgiven]

well you can find video card fans on the internet so maybe that is something you should look into. i mean with a card being older im not sure what other than that you can really do. its worth looking into for sure or else your card could take some damage during high end gaming. the video card really does get pretty hot!


here are some on this page to give you an idea what is out there......

LINKAGE

 

[godfire]

Is there a way I can test the fan? Is it the fan or the connection? Is it safe for me to keep it on right now (i.e., am I going to be scraping out a smoking card)?

Thanks

 

[MattTheTech]

Well if the fan plugs into the card itself, and you dont mind cutting some wires, you can snip the ends where they connect to the fan, and connect (solder preferably, but electrical tape usually works) a new fan to it. I used to use old cpu fans for video cards, but your options are pretty much unlimited. Just make sure you have a good way to attach it to the card If it _is_ under warranty though, you may not want to do this.

Then if the new fan doesnt spin, you know its the card.

You might could get away with using a slot fan under the card if it is indeed bad, and cant RMA it.

 

[MattTheTech]

One more thing, if you have a voltmeter, you can test that power is actually going to the fan. That might be a better method, but you would have to be careful not to short the contacts