System Fan Failure

Hi there,

When I turn my desktop on it says the system's fan has failed and so the computer will shut down, not to damage the CPU.

I seem to remember that a fan failure might mean that I might be better off geting a new computer than a fan replacement? Is this true?

If so, the most important question.. Is there a way to retrieve the files in the computer? Since at the moment it won't even start.

Thankyou so much!