Comp Crashing

[PARALIZED]

  A while back my comp started crashing. I traced the cause back to my graphics card.
  I uninstalled the card's driver programs and the computer boots up fine, minus decent graphics. However, when I try to restart the comp it automatically downloads the drivers for the graphics card and the comp crashes again.
  I tried removing the card itself and using the onboard graphics card, but it didn't work. So, the card is in and I just never shut off my comp.
  Is my graphics card shot?
  Any ideas on what I need to do to get this fixed?

[RSshruew]

What kind of card?  How is it crashing (i.e., blue screen, just rebooting, freezing?).

You might need to get a good driver cleaner app if you've been installing and uninstalling a lot of drivers.

[Rom]

Is windows installing the stuff auto? Grr, it's so annoying!

You have to click it really quick, when it notifies of driver install, or change settings somewhere for windows NOT to automatically install software for newly detected hardware.

However, sounds like this may NOT be the issue.

AS Shruew asked, we need to know card specifics, which windows, and how does it crash?

[PARALIZED]

It's a NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT and I am running Windows Vista-Home Premium.
It's crashing with a blue screen as it does a memory dump. Then will only start in Safe mode.

[RSshruew]

What's the blue screen error?

[Rom]

Does it pause on the BlueScreen? Or does it automatically restart?

To turn off automatic restart, right click "My Computer", select "Properties"; select the "Advanced" tab. Under Startup and Recovery, press the "Settings" button. Deselect the check-box next to "Automatically restart".

[PARALIZED]

The blue screen pops up and only stays on for a second or two.
All I can see when it pops up is the percentage of memory dump, then it's gone.

[RSshruew]

Do Romy's advise so the error stays on the screen.  Then post it when it happens again.

[PARALIZED]

The error was:

C:/windows/minidump/mni011210-04.dmp

Let me know if that helps.

[Rom]

I don't believe that's the error. That only indicates where that minidump file is stored.

The error code on the blue-screen should be different.

anything from a stop error or SQL error. stop 0x0000xx or something of that sort. Or a driver error etc.

[PARALIZED]

I let the comp re-load those files so I could get the error code. But, it decided to start working again instead.
I figure (hoping) it finally found an updated driver for the graphics card, and I won't have any more issues.