WTH happened to my monitor?

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OK, just a question here because I have nobody else to ask. I have an emachine computer and a LG Flatron L1717S flatscreen monitor that used to belong to my daughters fiance (monitor did that is). The other day for some reason it just wouldn't come on. Not at all. It wouldn't even cut on. It's been off for several days not, nothings been messed with with it. I just pushed the power button again today, even though I wasn't expecting anything, and it came on! What should I do? I'm running a virus scan right now, but what other trouble shooting stuff could I do?

Remember I am INCOMPETENT when it comes to computers. Please be specific. I have no clue what I'm doing here.

Are monitors sometimes like vacume cleaners, where you just have to leave them turned off sometimes to rest for a while?

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

Make sure all the cords and cables are plugged in properly.

did that lol

_________________
I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

**editing**

sometimes there are certain lockup conditions that can happen inside electronics, they are complex systems, often hundreds if not thousands of times as complex as mechanical things like an engine, so when the exactly wrong things happen in the exact wrong way then it can leave some of the individual parts inside with a charge that prevents normal function.

this should be extremely rare.

Yes monitors can just go out. Remember what you are seeing is light and there is a light bulb or LEDs in the case and if they go out your monitor will not show anything. I had it happen 2 weeks before my warranty ended and got it fixed. Less than a year later, blip no monitor. had to buy a new one. It was cheaper than getting the old one fixed.

I had two Acer monitors which both did this on the same morning. I sent them in for repair since they were very new and under warranty. When they came back, one of them did it again. So I gave up.

Brand seems to be important with monitors. I have a Sony LCD monitor in its second decade of service. I only use ViewSonic monitors now. My rule is not to buy any brand that is for sale at Wal-Mart.

If it worked, it works.
Now when it does not work does the power light come on?
If yes when it works, and no when it does not, power supply.

This can be the on button, or the DC converter, a power board within.

When the backlight goes out, no image, but the power light works, and shining a flashlight on the screen, the image is there, just not lit.

For that disassemble the case, take apart the screen, and replace the back light tube, or, as they are high voltage, they have an inverter, which I think changes DC to AC, a small board that is near the back light tube. Inverters go bad all at once, back light tubes like a florescent they die from the ends. Often the screen turn pink at the edges.

As you have an Emachine, there is also a video card at that end, so if the monitor does not work, try another known to be good, if it does not work, computer video card.

A while back there was a batch of bad capasitors, in everything. They swell, the tops dome, and they leak, they are on the image board.

Two boards in the back of a monitor, image and power, and one small one near the backlight, invertor. the video board on the computer is where the monitor cord plugs in.

I have a ViewSonic VX2235WM-3 that works perfect for fifteen minutes, then shuts down. Turned back on it works perfect for seven minutes, shuts down, then again, three minutes, one and a half, but otherwise a great monitor.

I replaced the capasitors, but cannot figure out what is shuting it down, the picture is perfect. All ideas welcome.

I looked that display up. My best guess is that it very old. Most flatscreens are wide now days
and that one is not. Much like a tire wears out the contacts inside the power button could be
not contacting as well.

I still use a Viewsonic CRT monitor from 2000. It's really heavy.

Mine stopped working correctly yesterday. It's a Samsung syncmaster T220 and has survived for something like 6 years now. I've been using it pretty much every day until yesterday, when the computer just wouldn't recognize the monitor anymore. I have gentoo linux x86 and win7 ultimate 64bit on dualboot, and neither does, so it's not software-related.
What happens is, when I turn the thing on, the LED indicating that it's on flashes like normal, but the screen displays "analog" and "digital" alternatively like it's searching for input. I can no longer select and use the display on either OS.
I use an HDMI cable to hook it up to my laptop; I don't have a spare, and I can't test the monitor on another computer. The laptop and monitor both can use a VGA cable, but I don't have one. So one thing I can do is get those cables...
Besides the cables screwing up (or the graphics card, but I don't see anything that would indicate that), it can be the monitor, and from what I've seen on the web, there are things you can do in some cases. The T220s apparently have problems fairly often, because some capacitors have a working voltage that is too low (10V when it should be 16V) or something like that (I guess I must've been lucky?). I started learning electronics a couple of months ago, so don't quote me on this. The problem with that is that I don't yet have all the soldering/desoldering equipment required, and buying it will cost me a bit too much right now.
As far as the Samsung service possibility, I'm pretty much sure they're not going to do squat.
Oh well, it has served me well so far. I'll have to wait until I can get my hands on the cables and the equipment.

quux, in your case I would test the monitor on another computer first. It sounds like it may be your video card instead of the monitor.