Unbelievable, Force OpenGL worked! Your longshot paid off!! Thank you so much Zengarden! Everything renders, no shut downs, only thing was my screen got noticeably brighter after having turned it on so I had to change my TV's settings to dim the screen a bit. Could be a product of the TV, however.
So just curious, and I'm pretty ignorant on this stuff, but you said Force Software would prove something's up with my Ti....is it likewise true with Force OpenGL? Or is it just a less demanding way of rendering things? Wonder if I can just Force OpenGL on all my games to make them all a bit less taxing on this laptop which tends to overheat under load for actual gaming...
Again, thanks so much Zengarden, and thanks everyone who pitched in ideas, really appreciate it