FFXI --Possible GPU ProblemsFollow

Before I begin, my system specs are as follows:
Processor type/speed: Pentium 4 3.0
Total Hard drive space/Free hard drive space: 114 GB / 34 GB
Amount of Ram: 1024 MB
Video card type: ATI Radeon Pro
Operating system: XP Professional
Computer model number): None, I built it myself
frequincy of problem: Within 5 minutes of login to FFXI


Between today and yesterday, my FFXI has locked up numerous times. When this happens, the music continues to play, but the image freezes on the screen, and the usual Alt+Tab or Ctrl+Alt+Delete are unable to bring it to the windows screen.

Thinking it was a heat problem, I opened up my case (it has a handy door and window on the side) and let it run like that, hoping either to fix the problem or at least see what it might be.

It locked up again, and, looking at my graphix card, I noticed that the fan embedded in the card is not spinning. After turning off the machine and disconnecting the power, I touched the heatsync on the card and found it to be extremely hot. I turned the machine back on, booted to Windows, and loaded up FFXI, this time watching the graphics card, and at no point in the entire process did the fan spin.

So, could it be that the graphics card is failing because it overheats? While I haven't tested it with other games, it only does this while playing FFXI; browsing around the internet seems to work perfectly. I have scanned for ad-ware as well as viruses.

If this is the problem, is there any fix I can perform myself? If not, what is the recommended solution? If I need a new card, I'd appreciate if someone could give advice on what's good on the market these days. My current card, as mentioned, is an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. My computer only supports AGP 8 cards (so PCI Express only cards are out of the question).

Thanks in advance!

Edited, Tue Oct 25 00:35:55 2005 by Lavery

I have the SAME error. I replaced my video card tho. It sounds like a heat issue, but I dont see it being a heat issue. I have a cheap PCI slot fan next to the video card, brand new card (no fan on it tho), and run the case open, with a huge (bigger than the case) fan sitting next to it (yes, im making sure the air traffic is away from the PC). I will try the touch test to see if its heat

Edit: Radeon 9600 (Sapphire, VisionTek Xtasy brand)
AND Radeon 9550 (ATI) both do this.

Edited, Thu Oct 27 23:26:43 2005 by BinaryCow

Edit2: Not to hijack the thread, but its a similar/related problem:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=25;mid=1130089958195015529;num=1

Edited, Thu Oct 27 23:27:38 2005 by BinaryCow