Comment 31 for bug 576352

While I was running 10.04, this ceased being a *consistent* issue after the 256.xx.xx drivers were added to the SWAT repository. It appeared to me like the GPU clock throttling started working more consistently. (http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu).

After upgrading to 10.10 Beta 1, (and keeping the swat repo active), I continued to enjoy stability *overall*... I finally found the workaround for complete stability, which was to just throttle the clock on the GPU to the minimum using information I found here: http://linux.aldeby.org/nvidia-powermizer-powersaving.html. My graphics performance for work related apps doesn't appear to have been impacted really. (and frankly do I really need a 1.2Ghz clock on my Laptop's GPU???)

I updated /etc/X11/xorg.conf with the following:
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Default Device"
 Option "Coolbits" "1"
"RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2223; PowerMizerLevel=0x3; PowerMizerDefault=0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"
 Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

My teammate running Windows 7 on his W510 had the same but much worse problem initially. Using my driver experience on Ubuntu, I had him upgrade to the 256 beta drivers, which stabilized him for a month. However, his onboard Nvidia card finally burned out and his systemboard was replaced last Friday. From my experience and watching his, it seems to indicate that this could be a combination hardware/driver defect rather than a Linux/Ubuntu defect.