"I could even git a Hiram's Boot CD to run chkdsk on it.  Kept crashing in Dos!"

 

then it wasn't the Nvidia drivers. that CD does not even look at them... same for Safemode (it uses Generic MS VGA, the idea is to avoid bad drivers loading...) and for the Install Disk BSODing from the Nvidia drivers? can't happen. again it uses it's own MS ones.

Airport security is a burden we must all shoulder. Do your part, and please grope yourself in advance.