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Do monitors have a shelf life? Or to put it another way,how long can you expect a monitor to last? I bought a PC in 2004,at the time it was top of the range,with state of the art spec. The base unit,printer and surround sound speaker system are still in fine fettle,but the monitor has given up the ghost. I have tried and tried to sort the problem out. The resolution is set correctly,the adjustment is right and basically all default settings are ok,but the monitor keeps on going blank after no more than one minute of use. I think its time for a new monitor,but just wondered if I've overlooked something,the monitor is a Medion and the base unit works on XP. Thank-you for your time.

Hi, Well i think you have a good run with that monitor, But, it could be the monitor or it could be the graphics card in the PC. I would suggest you get it checked by a compitant engineer or substitute the monitor and see if it is fine then.

Quote from: vitruvius8 on June 20, 2011, 18:57:25
Hi, Well i think you have a good run with that monitor, But, it could be the monitor or it could be the graphics card in the PC. I would suggest you get it checked by a compitant engineer or substitute the monitor and see if it is fine then.

Thanks for your reply. Yeah,the graphics card has been looked at and that is fine. Like you say,I have had a good run with the mointor,so I guess its time for another one. Thanks again :)

if you're happy with an old style monitor, try freecycle. They couldn't give them away fast enough when I wanted one. In fact I got two whoppers

actually now I use the TV as a monitor

Does it just go black? If so then have a close look and see if there seems to still be an image in the blackness, shining a light on it might help.

If so, then it is the backlights switching off, probably due to a faulty power supply.

Is it worth getting repaired? Don't know, when I had a similar fault it cost me 80p for a couple of capacitors from maplin, but I am a bit handy with a soldering iron, and I have no idea how much a repair shop would charge, too much probably.

Check the monitor on a mate's PC. You don't say if it is a flat screen or CRT (Presume, given the age it is old CRT) if so the last thing you want to do is poke around inside if you don't know what you are doing. These old monitors have capacitors that would give you a good belt if you fiddled too much. I would say the monitor has had a good run - time to get another one.

Tried the monitor at a friends (cheers for that idea),but still problems. Its been binned as the suggestion of it having had a good run proved correct. Got another now,so onwards and upwards. Thank you all for your time :)