Another update. On my newer machine with Mandriva 2008.1, I installed the 180.44 driver without any problem. This newer machine has a GeForce 7300 GT video card.
So we have the following:
GeForce 7300 GT + 180.44 = OK
GeForce FX 5200 + 180.44 = bad, card not supported
GeForce FX 5200 + 173.14.18 = OK, but windows decoration problems persist
GeForce FX 5200 + 169.04 = bad, kernel source cannot be found
I realize this is getting a bit confusing since I an talking about two different machines, both with Mandriva 2008.1 :P