There’s an error in the 5xx.xx versions of the driver. In the release notes I found the following information concerning Linux installations:
“A driver library mismatch error after a successful installation and subsequent reboot causes GPU programs to not start. 4302438
GPU programs work immediately after installing the driver, but fail to load after rebooting, and messages like the following appear in the kernel log:
API mismatch: the client has the version xxx.xx but this kernel module has the version yyy.yy. Please make sure that this kernel module and all NVIDIA driver components have the same version.
This is most likely because kernel modules from a previous driver version are in the initramfs.
Workaround
Rebuild the initramfs and reboot the system. If a reboot is not immediately possible, you can temporarily work around the issue by unloading and reloading the NVIDIA kernel modules.”
This is similar to my Windows-problem.
Finally: The Windows-problem exists with all 5xx.xx driver versions (I’ve tested three different versions).
Solutions: Version 474.64 works for me.