I hope I'm posting this on the right forum

Before I describe the problem, I would like to say I am in no way "computer smart." I was stumped when given the option for safe mode and etc. If possible, go for a understandable response.

So, after having my desktop for about a year and a half, I'm now just recently getting some problems. I am a gamer, and while opening up a game, I recieved a message saying some vital program terminated and my computer had to restart. My computer restarted and upon powering on, I got to a screen giving me the option to restore my system to the last working date, enter in safe mode, or open Windows normally. I had no idea what was going on so I just tried getting it to work normally. Basically, all I got was a black screen after the traditional windows startup screen. After being hung up for a good 30 minutes, I got to the desktop, to find that most of my appearance settings had been reset to default. I tried opening Internet Explorer to see if I could find any answers about my problem, but it wouldn't open. (It actually opened, but closed right away.) I hopped onto my laptop and googled my problem. A lot of similar threads seem to suggest the driver for a graphics card may be the problem. I have had an NVidia card for about a year now, and actually got the most recent driver a couple days ago. I tried uninstalling my current driver and reinstalling it, (I have the most recent driver installer saved on my computer) the problem is that I get an error when installing it back on. I get a message telling me to end some program and try again. I have nothing other than control panel opened, so I was a bit confused. Now, I currently, don't have a driver, but I'm still getting the horribly delayed start up, along with the fact I can't open internet explorer. Is there any way I can narrow down my problem and find a solution?

Hmm...my thread isn't appearing on the forums...today isn't my day :V

Hi, Have you tried installing the driver in safe mode?

Some startup programs don't run in safe mode. I would download the drivers disconnect from the internet/network and restart the computer and start in safe mode press F8 before windows loads. Then install the driver.

I'll go try that now

EDIT: Well, something strange happened. I no longer get the screen giving me the option to enter Safe Mode...I just go directly to the extremely delayed start-up. Is there another way to get into safe mode?

Yes, Have you tried pressing F8 as soon as the boot up screen goes try pressing F8.

Alright, I went into Safe Mode and after another lengthy start up, I tried installing the driver. I got the same problem, I wrote down the error code it gave me. "-5003:0xffffec75" I have no idea what kind of random error code that is, but I'll look it up on NVidia's website.

EDIT: There's nothing about the error it gave me...I'm open to any other suggestions at this point. Is there a way to even make sure the driver is what's causing my problem? If I could get Internet Explorer to work I could probably just download the whole driver over again instead of just running it.

I've looked around online and there's a few programs I can download that might help me out. Since I can't open internet explorer, could I download the installer onto a flash drive and then run it on my desktop?

EDIT: On second thought, I'll download the programs as a last resort, since I don't know if I can trust them.

EDIT2: I also just had another thought, I'm going to try and disable my anti virus software and then download the driver.

You can download programs from another computer as long as you download the right file for the system you install the program on.

Does this error come up by itself or as a result of attempting to install the driver?

Here's what happens when I get that message:

I'll open up the installer, it will start extracting the files and ask me if I want to overwrite, as soon as it starts to install the message comes up.

I'm also doing a full system scan to make sure there's no virus that caused the 'vital program' to end when this all started.

The virus scan came up clean, so it has to be a bad driver or some other hardware problem. If there's a possibility that overheating has to do with anything, I'm pretty sure my fan is working properly, and I've never had overheating issues.

Also, I only removed the display driver. I'm not supposed to remove the ethernet driver, right?