Tech help - Nvidia driver uninstalling itself

[SpiritWarrior]

For some odd reason, when I boot up my system (usually for the first time that day) my nvidia drivers aren't there and my card has a big ugly yellow X in device manager. I know immediately 'cuz I have this horrid tearing when I hit my homepage. I have checked the card itself to see if it's installed correctly, tried uninstalling drivers and reinstalling old (and new) ones all to no avail. When I reboot a few times it will finally realize a 6800 is inside and the drivers magically re-appear, but it annoys me.

It is worth mentioning that it happens often when I install something new. A program, a game, some hardware. I installed a demo and problem started. I installed an ipod and it started. I downloaded and installed some textures for a game and it started...

I am beginning to suspect the OS and some kind of 'safe' setting kicking in. Has anyone ever heard of this issue or ran into it before? Totally new for me and my system is malware/spyware free btw. I can't find too much on the web about it and Nvidias site is a cesspool of trouble.

Dell XPS 400 3.ghz Dual Core
Nvidia 256mb 6800 PCX