BSOD on an older Windows XP machine - thinking graphics card issues

I've got an 8-year-old (YIKES never thought about that before) GeForce 4 Ti4600 in my machine that I bought/had built in Summer of 2002. I graduated college at the end of 2005 and in a few months leading up to December 2005 I noticed that my screen would flicker when I was playing World of Warcraft. It wouldn't happen often, but when it did there was a remote chance the the computer would BSOD stating an error of some kind.

I eventually cut back on WoW due to life/getting older and also being married. I picked up EVE Online in my spare time, but noticed the flickering screen still when I would get into graphically-intensive situations (battles, etc.). I eventually purchased an AzenX Blitztorm cooling fan after looking around, reading some forums and figuring my problem was due to the graphics card overheating.

Fast forward to today. I no longer play PC games except the occasional Flash-based game. My PC is mostly used for e-mail, message boards, general browsing, etc. Nothing intensive that would put strain on a video card. I noticed the screen started to flicker again. It got so bad that I could not have the computer on for more than 5-10 minutes before it would go to the BSOD. I shut it down and didn't touch it for a few weeks because things got busy with work & life. I came back tonight, took a can and a half of compressed air to the insides, and even removed the video card and paid special attention to the heat sink and fan. When blowing the fan out in the past, I would shoot air at the blades and let the fan move so that I could hit every blade as it passed the air stream. This time I noticed the fan was not moving even with the "red straw" only 1-2" from the blades. After cleaning up, I plugged everything back in and powered the computer on. I checked several times through startup and also a few times in the few minutes before it went to the expected BSOD. The video card fan was not running at all.

I'm assuming it's supposed to run all the time, but maybe I'm wrong.

I am jumping to the conclusion of an overheating video card because in the past blasting out collected dust and adding the Blitztorm would result in no occurrences for some time (until a few weeks ago).

I have checked for drivers but last I checked I had the latest version. Can't tell you what they are right now because the computer is turned off and I won't be turning it on unless I have an action plan.

I've looked at replacement Ti4600 video cards and, while they are SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than what they were 8 years ago, they are more than I'd like to spend on a fix for this machine ($125+). I was looking into replacing the fan/heatsink housing but I'm thinking I may be on an impossible mission trying to find a component to an 8-year-old video card.

My other thought is to buy an inexpensive video card to get through the updated backup (fortunately I've backed up most of our pictures, documents, music, etc. on an external 1TB drive) as well as doing a final "spot check" before ditching this machine and buying a new one (which would have to happen later this year around Christmas/bonus time).

Any thoughts from anyone that this could be something other than an overheating graphics card? Any tricks to try?

Thanks!

 

Yes, it sounds like the fan on your video card has worn out . . . especially if it isn't spinning at all and resists manual turning. Odds are you have found the issue. Video card fans (generally) are supposed to run all the time - some cards or their software will alter the speed of the fan depending on the GPU heat at any given point, but none I know of turn off all the way. They aren't very expensive to replace . . . Newegg.com and Directron.com, to name just two online sites, have replacement video card fans. They tend to come in just a few standard sizes.

Oh - don't blow air into any computer fan without keeping the blade from spinning (same goes for putting a aweeper up close to a fan and letting it spin). This can actually rev the fan up to RPM levels it was not designed to reach causing damage to the fan, reducing it's lifespan or killing it outright.

Is your card an AGP type? If so, it may be as cost effective to purchase an entire modern card, rather then mess with the fan on the old one. AGP cards are still pretty common and a very good one can be had for a reasonable price, and could add some more years of use to the machine. Just depends on what voltages and such your board's AGP slot will support.

If you have just a PCI (board sounds too old for PCI-E) then a card would be harder to come by, and more expensive. PCI is the oldest port, and those cards are not being made much anymore - the ones that are tend to be way too expensive for upgrading an old PC.

If you really don't intend to keep the PC much longer, then your idea of buying a cheap card is the way to go . . .

 

Thanks for the quick response Spad, always nice to get a validating second opinion!

Good to know about blowing air into the fans. I never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense. I'll look into third party replacement fans on Newegg and Directron. I was just glancing the other day and saw a few for under $20 so I will probably go that route first.

It is indeed designed for an AGP slot. At the time PCI-E was not available (or at least not readily available or financially responsible...).

I will look into the replacement fans for now, and if I have to I will buy an inexpensive AGP card and make sure I'm as backed up as I'd like to be. Heck, it might breathe some life back into the machine for a little longer.

If I need to replace the entire card I will certainly come back here to make sure I go through the proper steps. While I know replacing a video card is simple, I have never done that before and I want to make sure I do everything right with regards to drivers and add/remove hardware steps.

Thanks again!