ASUS A7N266-VM with nVidia GeForce2 Integrated GPU stability & performance probs

[anjal]

The problem:
Screen drawing is erratic where the maximum problem occcus while scrolling; a PageUp and/or PageDown helps to clear screen and make it legible. Title bars are sometimes broken and illegible, can't see the full windows, windows are broken and finally after sometime, intermittently, a restart happens. I'm assuming only gdm restarts since it immediately takes me to the login screen. I log back in again and the same process happens again (and again, and again, and again...)

Performance also is slow and erratic.

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The info:

GnewSense DeltaH 2.3
me@i:~$ uname -a
Linux i 2.6.24-30-generic #1 SMP Mon Nov 21 14:54:07 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux

I have the foll. when using "nvidia" driver:
1. In /boot/grub/menu.lst
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-30-generic root=UUID=... ro quiet splash agp=off

2. In /etc/modules
nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1 NVreg_ReqAGPRATE=4

3. In /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist :
# give nVidia proprietary drivers a chance to load
blacklist agpgart
blacklist nvidia_agp

4. In /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc.conf
alias char-major-195* nvidia
options nvidia NVreg_DeviceFileUID=0 NVreg_DeviceFileGID=44 NVreg_DeviceFileMode=0660 NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1

which finally gives:
me@i:~$ sudo cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
[sudo] password for me:
Status: Enabled
Driver: NVIDIA
AGP Rate: 4x
Fast Writes: Enabled
SBA: Disabled

I have these installed from the gNewSense repositories:
||/ Name Version Description
+++-=================================-=================================-=================
ii nvidia-glx 1:96.43.05+2.6.24.18-30.11 NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x/X.Org driver
ii nvidia-glx-dev 1:96.43.05+2.6.24.18-30.11 NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x/X.Org driver development files
un nvidia-glx-legacy <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-glx-legacy-dev <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-glx-new <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-glx-new-dev <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-glx-src <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-kernel-169.12 <none> (no description available)
pn nvidia-kernel-2.6.24-30-generic <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-kernel-71.86.04 <none> (no description available)
un nvidia-kernel-96.43.05 <none> (no description available)
ii nvidia-kernel-common 20080825+1ubuntu2 NVIDIA binary kernel module common files
ii nvidia-kernel-source 1:96.43.05+2.6.24.18-30.11 NVIDIA binary kernel module source
un nvidia-kernel-src <none> (no description available)
ii nvidia-settings 1.0+20080304-0ubuntu1.1 Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
un nvidia-xconfig <none> (no description available)


I have attached:
1. xorg.conf
2. Xorg.0.log
3. nvidia-bug.report.log
4. messages
5. syslog
6. kern.log
7. lspci and lsmod output

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Note that I have also installed 96.43.20 the latest driver with the same result.

Multiple options in my xorg.conf and the other options listed above make no difference whatsoever to the final outcome i.e. gdm restarts.
In fact, while collecting all this information and uploading, it took about 9 - 10 restarts in a span of 30 minutes.
In addition to that, while posting itself it restarted 5 times; was fed up so modified X to use 'nv' and posted.

The driver 'nv' works. Attached the xorg.conf file when 'nv' is used.

I have cleaned my machine for eg. removed RAM modules, cleaned and refitted, etc. So, it would take some concrete testing steps to accept that it is a HW problem.

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What I want:
1. A driver that works and/or guidance to how can I make my system work with nVidia drivers.
2. An optimum xorg.conf for my machine configuration when using driver 'nvidia'
3. An optimum xorg.conf for my machine configuration when using driver 'nv'

Note: Older drivers, when the driver naming convention used to be 1.0.* did work well.

Also note: I have researched before posting here, including this forum. Have tried many options and am open to trying more to get this working.