I was upgrading the bios on my ATI video card in another computer, because it required windows to do so. That video card requires a molex connector for power to its fan. the wire to the fan got caught in the grill, and so the video card was runing for a few minutes, while i was trying to flash the video bios, with the fan not rotating. it caused the screen to go blank, and i was unsure as to the exact cause (thought it might be cause of a flash proceedure, wasn't) then i checked, powered off, noticed there was a slight scent being produced. i of course turned off the computer, and hooked up the fan, and made did what i needed to do to the bios. and the video card is working just fine. the odor it made, wasn't too strong, but it was slightly noticeable. i'm wondering if i may have shortened the lifespan of my video card, or if i can safely ignore this incident. it didn't get so far as to render any of the chips burnt, but it was running wtihout a fan for a minute or two, and the screen did go blank. i'm not entirely sure what the lifespan of a video card is, but my concern now, is how long is this video card going to live?
thanks so much for your help
thanks so much for your help