Installing the mainline kernel 4.13rc6 intermediately solved the problem until the recent Ubuntu update from approximately 4.9.2017. This also upgraded the 4.10 kernel, which introduced the issue again. Even though the running kernel is 4.13rc6.
It seems there is some unseen conflict or hidden dependency between the kernel package and the nvidia drivers.
Installing the mainline kernel 4.13rc6 intermediately solved the problem until the recent Ubuntu update from approximately 4.9.2017. This also upgraded the 4.10 kernel, which introduced the issue again. Even though the running kernel is 4.13rc6.
It seems there is some unseen conflict or hidden dependency between the kernel package and the nvidia drivers.