From the Nvidia Linux Kernel Forum: "Linux/x86-64 kernels >= Linux 2.6.11 have a bug in their implementation of the global_flush_tlb() kernel interface that can lead to severe stability problems in combination with the NVIDIA Linux/x86-64 graphics driver and/or other drivers relying on the change_page_attr()/global_flush_tlb() kernel interfaces. This problem is not expected to be fixed before Linux 2.6.14 (final) is released. The patches below for the 1.0-7676 and 1.0-7174 NVIDIA Linux/x86-64 graphics driver releases work around this problem. It is highly recommended that users of affected Linux kernels and NVIDIA Linux/x86-64 graphics drivers apply these patches." Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3.
I was having the same freezes, but fixed it with that patch from zander. http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=771058#post771058
These patches have been committed: media-video/nvidia-kernel/files/1.0.7676/NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-7676-1386866.diff and media-video/nvidia-kernel/files/1.0.7174/NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-7174-1386866.diff
No longer relevant bug about obsolete driver versions. Closing.