Video card fan not spinning?

I'm not sure if this usually happens since I have my computer closed most of the time, but when I turn on my computer the video card fan is not spinning and my hard drive just crashed so I can't test it. Does it only spin during stress (ex. playing games)? The computer and monitor still turns on though so should I get a new fan for my graphic card before it burns out? I have a radeon 8500 which is pretty old so I'm not sure if its suppose to always spin.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hmm, sounds like either there might be something blocking the fan or it died. You can check to see if there are large amounts of accumulated dust preventing fan movement. If there is, you can use compressed air to clear out all the dust.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yes, the fan on your graphics card must be spinning at all times.

If the graphics card is a cheap one, the fan could well be sleeve bearing rather than 2-ball bearing. (You can check by looking at the fan.) These cheaper sleeve bearing fans will generally fail before ball bearing fans, as the lubricant is finite and will be used up very quickly under hot conditions within a computer. If there are no dust obstructing the fan, and the fan is sleeve bearing; then all the lubricant has probably been used up. You can try to add lubricant to the fan, but it would be much easier to replace the fan altogether.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.