That brings up the whole final vendor vs. Nvidia reference driver issue. I've had definite problems over-installing (not switching to VGA first) Nvidia drivers over final vendor drivers. Installing Nvidia over Nvidia has not been a problem for me.

Perhaps this is part of the problem? My problems in the past were strange indeed (i.e. games played fine & resolutions switched ok, but launching a video of any type .mov, mpg, .avi immediately locked the machine - W2k) .

The VGA routine has never failed me. You do need to scrub out old driver files though. The best way I know of is to look at the Device Manager, Display Adapter properties, Driver tab, Driver Details. It can be a long list. I used screen dumps, Paint Shop Pro & a printer instead of copying it all down by hand.

-Zeke