Graphics driver issue (kernel mode)

Alright, I've got a problem. My desktop gets incredibly sluggish right when it hits the desktop on >. Once it loads, the screen starts flickering—everything looks fine for a second, then it just freezes, the screen goes black, and then pops back up. Eventually, I get an error window popping up saying "*nvidia kernel mode*". I already tried a clean install of the Nvidia drivers by wiping everything out first, but that did nothing. I even nuked the OS and did a fresh installation of Windows, but still no luck.

Here's the specs:
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ASRock N68C-UCC
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2 GB DDR2 RAM
80 GB HDD

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

If you’ve already reinstalled the drivers and performed a clean OS install only to have the exact same issue, then we’re likely looking at a hardware failure—your GPU might be kicking the bucket.

On the other hand, I wouldn't spend too much time digging through system settings because of it. Just run a health check and an error scan on your drive using CrystalDiskInfo or HD Tune Pro first.

Your hard drive finally kicked the bucket, man? Just grab a new one... honestly, looking at that thing, I can tell it’s ancient