ViewSonic monitor goes dark

[Lillefot]

Hi,
I have a two year old monitor, a ViewSoinc. It was my dad's old one.
It's flat and about 15¥inch.

Now for the problem:

Some weeks ago this monitor started to shut down shortly after start.
If I turned it back on, it goes away again after just a few seconds.
Not having any better to do, I decided to try and fix it.
I've opened it up, check all parts, all seems fine. To me. I only looked for parts that looked broken!  :
I connected it to my old XP PC.
Now, it doesn't die. It gets dark. VERY dark, you can hardly see a thing.
The brightness and contrast are up highest, if I lower it, it gets pitch black.
If I restart the monitor, it gets normal for a couple of seconds.... then goes dark again. strange is, if I turn it off, it won't. It's still on, and the screen's still dark.
Anyone who knows what to do?
Or should I consider the monitor dead, and get the joy to tear it apart before driving it to the recycle dump?  :

Thanks in advance,

Lillefot

[Kor]

Is it a crt or an lcd?  If it is a crt the main tube may be going out, with the ion gun things or the screen itself not able to to show or hold an image.    I'm not sure if an lcd could have the same thing since I have only vague idea of how an lcd works.  

Just some of my ideas.  I'm sure someone very experienced in this may be along shortly.

[landbeforetimelover]

I have a flat panel with the same problem.  There's no way to fix it that I can tell, but please don't take apart monitors too much.  You can take apart the cover and such, but NEVER try to mess inside the screen itself.  It has acid inside that is very harmful to human skin tissue.  That's why you can't just dump a monitor at the dump or in a dumpster.  There's a $1,000 fine here for doing that.

[Lillefot]

I have a flat panel with the same problem. There's no way to fix it that I can tell, but please don't take apart monitors too much. You can take apart the cover and such, but NEVER try to mess inside the screen itself. It has acid inside that is very harmful to human skin tissue. That's why you can't just dump a monitor at the dump or in a dumpster. There's a $1,000 fine here for doing that.

Exactly what my aunt (computer tech) told me. Mercury... isn't it?
Thanks anyway.  :^.^:

Now... (looks at monitor) where did I put my hammer?  
Taking it to the recycle (I know where to go) first thing in the morning. It was wort a try.  

PS. Do you know what may have caused it? I'd like to know, just curious.

[landbeforetimelover]

What makes a hard drive die?  What makes the sound on a tv suddenly go out?  Time.  It got old and had too many hours on it.  It lived a long life but it has nothing more to give.  It simply......died.

[Lillefot]

Oh, okay. Fair enough.
Thanks.