NVIDIA binary driver corrupts X Session

[Matt Roelle]

Description: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Release: 16.04

nvidia-361:
  Installed: 361.42-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 361.42-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 361.42-0ubuntu2 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/restricted amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

After installing 16.04 I also added a new video card- an NVIDIA GTX 960. The system worked fine (for a few days to a week) until I switch to the NVIDIA binary driver (version 361.42 from nvidia-361). The graphics (specifically panning between workspaces) looked better and videos play in chrome. However, I eventually noticed a few other (more critical) things did not work:
 * Nautilus would not open
 * Chrome remote desktop would not accept connections
 * Virtual consoles show a single large cursor but nothing else.

I tried reinstalling nautilus and chrome-remote-desktop. I noticed a bug from years ago (#1470862) where an ATI graphics driver caused virtual console issues so I switched the GTX 960 driver back to Nouveau and the three problems immediately went away.

I'm not sure that the problem isn't caused by the way the NVIDIA driver is configured