So when I bought my PC, I opted for a cheap, no-name Japanese (or
Chinese) ATI 9800SE with 256MB of RAM. The main reason is that I
couldn’t find the real card I wanted that wasn’t totally overpriced.

Now I am paying the price. I’m not sure what to do because the fan on
the VPU has burnt out. I could try to contact the vendor, and I may.
But I think I will also try to replace the fan myself because I don’t
really have the time to RMA it. It is only the fan that is the problem
and I know this because as soon as a do something that requires VPU
processing (ie. playing a game or playing a DVD when my DVD player is
configured to use hardware) then the problem occurs.

So, the PC will work fine if I don’t use the vid card too much. If I
do, I get a VPU error in the ATI driver software and I should reboot.

At first, I thought it was just a driver problem, then I did a complete
re-install of the newest drivers and it still happened. So, I opened
the case and found the fan on the VPU wasn’t spinning at all. Then, I
tried to push the fan with a Q-tip but it was getting stuck on
something. So, I pulled the card out and removed the fan. under the fan
I could see a burn line where the power from the card to fan had burned
throught the covering. I did my best to put it back in working
condition but the fan mounting is warped and requires a new fan from
what I can see.

I hope I can just find a new fan in the electronics district or I have
to shell out the money for a new card which is not necessary or worse
yet, do an RMA which could take more than a week and I will lose my DLs
and the website for a long time.

Sucks…