Gentle persons:

Like Gene, I've had reasonable luck with older ATI video cards using the 
vesa driver.

As a general observation, it seems that newer versions of the X Server 
are causing an increase in complaints on various Linux boards. 
Naturally, the Ubuntu developers are keeping with the never-ending 
evolution in computer hardware by immediately embracing new X releases.

John: when your display locks up, can you get to a virtual terminal, 
e.g., does entering CTRL-ALT-F1 (type F1 while holding down the CTRL and 
ALT keys) bring up a full-screen text terminal? If it does, log in, 
enter the dmesg command and look at the last lines to see if any useful 
diagnostic message appears. Useful diagnostic messages may have been 
left elsewhere but I'm not the guy to ask. You can also gracefully 
reboot the system from this terminal.

If you have another computer on the same network, can you ssh to the 
frozen machine? If so, again you can look for diagnostic messages.

There are a number of sites that offer useful tips, for example,
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/Freeze 
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/Freeze#Advanced:%20How%20do%20I%20tell%20if%20my%20GPU%20has%20really%20locked%20up?>

There are various escalating-in-violence key-sequences to regain control 
of X but it sounds like you may be beyond that.

Still, if you'd rather be running a machine than diagnosing a computer, 
there's a lot to be said for "brute force and ignorance"...in this case, 
swapping out the ATI card.

Good hunting!

Regards,
Kent

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