could you try running pooler's cpuminer in screen, and if it terminates too ask for an improvement in his code (pooler's cpuminer has its own thread on bitcointalk). I can then just merge his fixes in

Christian
I can confirm that pooler's cpuminer does indeed function in Linux screen, I can not confirm cudaminer though.
Have you tried to use a dummy plug? Very easy to make and needed for years for AMD. AMD fixed things driver-side to resolve this for miners but Nvidia may not have needed to before now.