Vista and ethernet trouble

Hi all,
A very strange problem has suddenly started that I cannot account for on
my desktop system with Vista Ultimate. It has worked without trouble up
till a couple of weeks ago when shortly after downloading and installing a
number of security patches thru Microsoft update, my ethernet card used to
hook up to my cable modem stopped working. A red X appears on the try icon
for networks when ever I start up.
I've tried everything, even downloading and installing a new driver from
Nvidia, but the only way I can get it working, is to go into the Device
Manager upon boot up, uninstalling the driver, then running the Nvidia
ethernet driver installation. Then upon restarting the system everything
works fine again! But the next time I shut down and restart, I have to go
thru the entire driver installation process again!
Evidently the driver is correct because it works fine after
re-installing, but something is definitely preventing the driver from
connecting as it should on startup. Could the sequence of driver startups
have anything to do with it? Is there anyway I can alter this sequence so
that the driver is installed at startup before all the others? Is there
another driver...from Microsoft...I could try? Any help would be greatly
appreciated!

--
from "Robert Meek" dba "Tangentals Design"
Creative Concepts Programming for Windows Vista
E-mail: FFOman DeleteThis @comcast.net

Proud sponsor of "The New American Activist"
Our Blog: newamericanactivist.blogspot.com

Did you only install Critical updates or did you install any driver updates
from MSUpdate?

"Robert Meek dba Tangentals Design" <meektan DeleteThis @comcast.net> wrote in message
news:04DED822-1D01-45B0-9F28-6437B2D0BA42@microsoft.com...
> Hi all,
> A very strange problem has suddenly started that I cannot account for
> on my desktop system with Vista Ultimate. It has worked without trouble
> up till a couple of weeks ago when shortly after downloading and
> installing a number of security patches thru Microsoft update, my ethernet
> card used to hook up to my cable modem stopped working. A red X appears
> on the try icon for networks when ever I start up.
> I've tried everything, even downloading and installing a new driver
> from Nvidia, but the only way I can get it working, is to go into the
> Device Manager upon boot up, uninstalling the driver, then running the
> Nvidia ethernet driver installation. Then upon restarting the system
> everything works fine again! But the next time I shut down and restart, I
> have to go thru the entire driver installation process again!
> Evidently the driver is correct because it works fine after
> re-installing, but something is definitely preventing the driver from
> connecting as it should on startup. Could the sequence of driver startups
> have anything to do with it? Is there anyway I can alter this sequence so
> that the driver is installed at startup before all the others? Is there
> another driver...from Microsoft...I could try? Any help would be greatly
> appreciated!
>
> --
> from "Robert Meek" dba "Tangentals Design"
> Creative Concepts Programming for Windows Vista
> E-mail: FFOman DeleteThis @comcast.net
>
> Proud sponsor of "The New American Activist"
> Our Blog: newamericanactivist.blogspot.com
>