Help With Bsod Consistent Through Format

Originally I was on windows 7. all was fine until friday the 13th...

I went to turn it back on from hibernation mode... and i got my first ever blue screen of death on windows 7. thought it was a fluke, tried restarting.... kept happening. reason being nvlddmkm.sys (the darn thing flashes so fast i had to take a video of my system failing just to be able to actually read the problem.)

So i figured, its pooched, time to reformat. I decided to go with windows 8.1 to give it a try. its much uglier IMO but i was going to make it work.

until i got a BSOD on this windows 8.1, on a fresh format and install!! says system thread exception not handled nvlddmkm.sys so the same problem persisted through the format.

heres teh kicker.... i have not installed *any* updates on windows 8 yet.... only because it wouldnt let me, it hangs when searching for them..... but regardless of cause they have not been installed.

SO, the internet searches suggests that it is due to an nvidia driver... but the thing is its so basic and core right now, its not even trying to use an nvidia driver, its using something like "microsoft basic video driver" or something.... the install was fresh and running about 10 minutes when this all started happening again...

i dont feel like i should be punished for having an older system... just because i take care of my things and dont feel the need to be like those people who have a new phone every 4 minutes.

does anyone have any suggestions?? the internet suggests going in and rolling back the driver, but i cant, as it hasnt even been installed yet!!