Comment 229 for bug 973096

"@tye3ow: In that case, you are probably experiencing a different issue, as we have identified a specific problem that was introduced between the 290 and 295 series of drivers that we believe is responsible for many of the reports here.

The next 304 release (the fix is not in 304.32) will contain a fix for the above described problem. This driver should be released very soon.

If you continue to experience problems after upgrading to the next 304 release when it's available, please file a separate bug instead of continuing to update this bug. When you file that bug, please try to provide as much detailed information about the problem as possible. (See my comment #144 here.)"

my mistake, I saw some reports of the same problem in the comments of this bug (GPU Fallen off the bus, blank video or simply frozen video, etc). we have an open bug but it's been ignored for 9 months:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers/+bug/882710