Crash/System lock during rendering

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

Whenever I run an application that puts a demand on the GPU (WoW, and WoW Launcher, not just normal desktop rendering) the desktop crashes, and the system locks up.

This has occurred for any Ubuntu and derivatives that are version 12.04 and 12.10. Distros like Slackware work great.

I’m running 310.32 driver. System details below. I was unable to get a bug report during the crash via ssh or a terminal. I assume because the kernel crashed.

I have included a bug report after a hard reset.
TXT Bug Report

inxi -Fc 0
System:    Host: cosine Kernel: 3.2.0-23-generic i686 (32 bit) Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 13 Maya
Machine:   Mobo: Abit model: AN52(MCP65) version: 1.x Bios: Phoenix version: 6.00 PG date: 05/16/2007
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm)
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1000.00 MHz 2: 1000.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] X.Org: 1.11.3 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 550 Ti/PCIe/SSE2/3DNOW! GLX Version: 1.4 (2.1.2 NVIDIA 310.32)
Audio:     Card-1: NVIDIA MCP65 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.24
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF116 High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-3: Plantronics driver: USB Audio
Network:   Card: Marvell 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: sky2
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:50:8d:b2:3e:61
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (6.9% used) 1: /dev/sda Hitachi_HDS72202 2000.4GB
Partition: ID: / size: 24G used: 4.8G (22%) fs: ext4 ID: /home size: 976G used: 116G (13%) fs: ext4
           ID: swap-1 size: 10.76GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 26.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 32C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 142 Uptime: 52 min Memory: 452.2/3025.4MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.33
2

I noticed the timestamp left by folks that had very similar issues to mine. (but whos solutions did not improve my situation.) So I thought to use an older driver that was supported for my card and kernel.
Right now I’m using Nvidia Driver 304.48.

I did more digging on my system and found:

$ dmesg | tail
[   11.595202] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both
[   11.595376] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   11.604773] init: plymouth-upstart-bridge main process (782) killed by TERM signal
[   12.462310] NVRM: GPU at 0000:04:00: GPU-ad7ef855-f6a1-1b05-a88a-21c5095a79f9
[   12.462319] NVRM: Your system is not currently configured to drive a VGA console
[   12.462322] NVRM: on the primary VGA device. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver
[   12.462326] NVRM: requires the use of a text-mode VGA console. Use of other console
[   12.462328] NVRM: drivers including, but not limited to, vesafb, may result in
[   12.462331] NVRM: corruption and stability problems, and is not supported.

What am I missing, if not vesafb?