You're right. I misread the original report. I thought that your system would freeze, as well. However, the garbled console and X displays have been reported in other bug reports, as well. Check out bug #67487 and #26513 for instance. They sound quite similar to your problem.
** This bug is no longer a duplicate of bug 37678 xorg DRI to hang with ATI 9600 pro -- Consoles locked out and screen show complete garbage. https://launchpad.net/bugs/70581 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
