Display resets

[kevink2]

I've had a problem for months, but it comes and goes. Screens all blank out, then come back. Maybe 2 or 3 times before it stabilizes for awhile. Did it just now while typing...

Seems more frequent, but since I more frequently use my laptop maybe I hadn't realized the problem. But researching the console logs, I don't see any kernel panics or other things showing something wrong.

The logs just show a display connect changed for my monitors:
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Received display connect changed for display 0xb412bf4
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Found 96 modes for display 0x0b412bf4 [87, 9]
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Received display connect changed for display 0x2b38450d
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Found 66 modes for display 0x2b38450d [57, 9]
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Received display connect changed for display 0xb412bf4
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Found 96 modes for display 0x0b412bf4 [87, 9]
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Received display connect changed for display 0x2b38450d
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Found 66 modes for display 0x2b38450d [57, 9]
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: MPServiceForDisplayDevice: Invalid device alias (0)
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Display 0x0b412bf4: GL mask 0x1; bounds (0, 0)[1920 x 1200], 96 modes available
Main, Active, on-line, enabled, boot, OpenGL-accel, Vendor 4c2d, Model 467, S/N 434d3234, Unit 0, Rotation 0
UUID 0x2230e4cd2185fd161b33bbf86e7deae2, ColorProfile { 2, "SyncMaster"}
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01022608, GL mask 0x00000003, accelerator 0x00004167, unit 0, caps QEX|MIPMAP, vram 512 MB
texture max 8192, viewport max {8192, 8192}, extensions FPRG|NPOT|GLSL|FLOAT
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Display 0x2b38450d: GL mask 0x2; bounds (1920, 0)[1680 x 1050], 66 modes available
Active, on-line, enabled, OpenGL-accel, Vendor 10ac, Model e009, S/N 3152474c, Unit 1, Rotation 0
UUID 0x173058b5cfa4958caf5eee1e031ab2ec, ColorProfile { 3, "DELL 2005FPW"}
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01022608, GL mask 0x00000003, accelerator 0x00004167, unit 0, caps QEX|MIPMAP, vram 512 MB
texture max 8192, viewport max {8192, 8192}, extensions FPRG|NPOT|GLSL|FLOAT
Feb 1 09:16:50 macpro WindowServer[135]: Display 0x0b412bf4: Unit 0: Startup Mode 1920 x 1200, CGSThirtytwoBitColor, Resolution 1, ioModeID 0x80001000, ioModeDepth 0x2, IOReturn 0x0


What I don't know is whether anyone has any ideas whether this is a hardware issue (the infamous 8800 card), or maybe a driver issue. The computer has nearly 6 years without a clean reinstall. Just upgrades to newer versions of OSX (currently Mavericks). I would not like to go through the effort of reinstalling applications after all this time. Some require activation.

This isn't the same symptoms I see mentioned for dead or dying cards.

Buying a new card, if required, can be done.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Kevin