Why did my graphics card explode?

How did my graphics card "explode" like it did in the picture I have here? And if I was just plugging into my on-board graphics, why wouldn't the PC boot up like it normally would? It wouldn't come up until I opened the cover and removed the card, that's when I found it like this.

EDIT: If the card was trying to still operate like this for a while, did it run the risk of damaging the PCI-E slot?

Solution 1:

Why did my graphics card explode?

Looks like your fan exploded, not the card. Maybe it was old or running under excessive load for long periods of time.

Why did my computer not use the internal graphics?

Because a defective electrical component was still plugged into it.

Solution 2:

It didn't really "exploded", your cooler fan just got problems on it's coupling(ok, then you could think that it exploded, but it just uncoupled). Your video card probably is still running because it is still dissipating heat over the cooler fins, however, it will not work when it hit high temperatures due the fact that your fan is not cooling the fins anymore. I would keep it turned off until you change your VGA cooler because you can permanently damage it with overheating.

To get your onboard graphics, check on your BIOS settings if it is enabled, probably when the manufacturer installed your offboard VGA, they disabled it on BIOS.

You could easily change it for a new one just such this one and(probably if no permanent damage on chip was made by heating) everything will run ok again: