[CentOS] atrpms nvidia cannot load

Hi guys - brand new 5.1 install here and quite happy - but...

The nv driver did not work at all for me, fritzy stripes and dots. This is a 
GeForce 7300 LE which was working happily dual-head under FC6 with the livna 
nvidia RPMs

So I looked around and it seemed like the ATRpms repo via yum was the best 
option for CentOS. This is what I installed, it worked great with the 
xorg.conf from the old system.

But then I did a 'yum update' to the system and got a new kernel from 
centosplus (?). 

Now the nvidia module won't load. It's not happy with the new kernel. I am at 
a loss as to how to make it happy?

what is the best way to install the closed-source drivers? direct from nvidia? 
recomplile them? Is there some gap between updates kernel and the atrpms 
modules?

and in advance I am SORRY if this has been beat to death. I know ~75% of the 
traffic on the Fedora list was about nvidia woes and flames. Lame, but the 
DRI does work well on these and my daughter likes to play games. 

best,
Sam