NVidia Driver issues

[The Great Apple]

I noticed there was a new driver out, so I downloaded it (after uninstalling the old one, and restarting), and ran it (and restarted). I play quite a bit of Counter-Strike: Source, but CS didn't seem to like the new driver, so I checked the Steam support thing, and sure enough, it said the new driver from NVidea didn't work too well.

So, I did the whole process backwards. I had uninstalled the new driver successfully, had just restarted, when, calamity struck Surprised

For some reason best known to itself windows has done something odd to my profile (it would appear it has made a new profile, with default wallpepers and stuff)! It also will not let me install the older driver (or, in fact any other driver), giving me the following error message:

"An error (-5009 : 0x800706ba) has occured while running the setup.

Please make sure you have finished any previous setup and closed all applications"

It won't let me access system restore - the "Help and Support" button just doesn't work, neither does the direct system restore button from the "System tools" menu.

Has anybody any idea how I can get some drivers working so I can play CS again (and sort out my profile... and make it so system restore will work again...)?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: For some reason my sound isn't working either, and programs minimised don't show up on the taskbar. WinXP Pro is the OS.

 

[Zakharov]

The first thing you should do is run a virus scan on your pc. I don't like the sound of this 'new' profile. It may just be caused by file corruption, but it could also be a trojan.

As for the driver, what is your graphics card and what driver version number are you trying to install?

 

[The Great Apple]

GeForce 5700LE

The driver I upgraded to was the version: 77.72 forceware XP driver, and, having uninstalled it, it won't let me install any drivers.

I have run a full virus/spyware scan, and nothing showed up (using AVG/spybot, both fully updated).

 

[CruddyLeper]

If memory serves correctly, there are utilties to forcibly remove official nVidia drivers and adjust the registry accordingly.

 

[The Great Apple]

I have one of these - it's called Driver Cleaner.

While I'm sure it removes the old drivers more thoroughly than merely uninstalling them, it doesn't bring me any closer to installing the new ones (still get error message).

If only it would let me do a system restore

 

[Zakharov]

Driver Cleaner is the best program for removing old drivers, so I don't think you are having a problem with driver clashes. Have you tried booting into safe mode to install the new version?

I'm still not sure what to make of your profile/system restore problem. You could try this online virus scanner from Trend Micro to see if AVG has missed anything:

LINK

If this doesn't find anything then you may need to reformat and reinstall Windows, though I would wait for other people to make suggestions before resorting to this.

 

[The Great Apple]

Thanks, I'll give it a go.

EDIT: Doesn't work. I get a message saying it has been blocked. I tweaked my IE security settings (firefox isn't working either), but it still wouldn't let me run it...

I did try safe mode, no luck.

 

[The Great Apple]

Final plea to anybody with any ideas before I go about reinstalling windows.

 

[wit>trope]

Maybe you could try a registry cleaning program. You can download some for free. Or is that what the Driver Cleaner thing is?

 

[EdwardTking]

Is the profile you log-on to still an Administrator Profile?

 

[The Great Apple]

It was an Adminstrator Profile. I got bored of trying things, so today, I reinstalled windows. Everything works fine, in fact, a little better than before...

EXCEPT

The calculater isn't working!! I think it might just be a bad link that somehow managed to creep in, going to poke it tomorrow.