LCD monitor blacks out.

[Eaglestrike]

I think whatever is wrong with my monitor may have just killed it for good, but I'd like to at least know what is wrong with it.

A few months ago my power went out, when my computer rebooted the monitor would show as normal each new "big" signal (when bios booted, when windows started to boot, etc.) but after a few seconds it would go black. I could turn the monitor off and back on and it'd show everything as normal and black out after a couple seconds. I unhooked the monitor for a couple days, plugged it back in and it worked. This has happened a couple times and I just waited a day or two and it would work again. Two days ago this happened again, kept the monitor off for 30 hours or so, plugged it in and still doesn't work. I'm on a really old monitor that I had like 7-8 years ago and in comparison to the LCD it looks like crap.

Anyway, any clue as to what happened with my LCD? I've had it for a little under 6 years, Gateway FPD1730.

[Isiolia]

Is it completely out or can you still sorta see the picture? If it's the latter, it's probably an issue with the backlight. I've seen it a number of times with laptop LCDs. Sometimes they completely go out, but others they'll come on but not stay on.
'course, since either way I just get a replacement LCD, I don't have anything really to say for fixing it.

[Edrick]

That's what I would recommend, too. LCDs are getting pretty cheap now. Just find one in your price range, and you'll be all set. If you want DVI, then that'll cost a bit more, but not too much.

[Eaglestrike]

It's completely out. I'm in my basement, it's nighttime, turned off all the lights and I can't see a thing from the monitor. And I don't have $150 which was the cheapest LCD on pricewatch =/

[Isiolia]

Well, if it was the backlight you wouldn't see a faint image in the dark.

Basically, LCDs let light through them. You've got what amounts to fluorescent light bulbs usually along the top and bottom of the screen, and a reflective element that diffuses the light from those across the back of the LCD itself.

It'd generally be in bright light that you could see the picture if that's what's wrong, not in the dark.

In terms of "wear", it's the bulbs there that will burn out in an LCD screen. The LCD itself should stay working for many, many years, barring some other defect. That's why it's common for the backlight to fail.

It's possible to buy/replace just the bulbs for the backlight, which would probably run around $15/ea. Though it'd mean soldering, and if you happened to break the old ones there's toxic gases in them...but hey, that's what fluorescents are all about. Slide-in replacement kits usually are a bit more, $30-40 range perhaps each.

If it's not that, you're likely looking at power circuitry.

$150-170 would likely buy you a much better panel and be maybe $80-100 more than replacement parts. IMO, that'd be the way to go even if you need to wait for payday or whatnot.

[Eaglestrike]

Well I tried it again and looking at it with the light right on it I couldn't see a thing.

Does the backlight failing account for the fact that I can turn the monitor on, it works for around 10s, then goes black?

[Isiolia]

I have seen cases of that being the backlight, but also other LCDs that were just random. Would kick into power saving mode or something for no reason.

[Eaglestrike]

Do you think I could kick it into working mode?

[Isiolia]

Dunno, the only way that particular one seemed to start working again was resetting the computer. Maybe check to make sure the pins aren't damaged. Since you can't see the picture at all, it's likely you've got a problem in the board itself. Possibly shorting out or overheating, taking less and less time to do so until it stopped working normally at all.
Short of finding a used one on eBay that's broken in another way to part out, it'd probably still point to just buying a new one when you have funds.