Monitor Question
 

My monitor goes black, still has power, but flashes off and on.

Is it time for a new monitor???

Cost to replace is minimal; cost in time and effort to repair may not be worth it. Most electronics are "throwaway" nowadays. Last time I repaired anything electronic was a 10 YO Zenith TV. The only way to repair was to purchase the "module" (read entire chassis board) and replace. Gone are the days of repairable stuff.

yep, buy a flat panel one.

Had a bunch of 21' Radius monitors that would loose sync and go green.

Turned out the board in the back was the culprit. Two pieces of wafer about 3/4 inch apart. One side was where the cable plugged into. Cables were heavy and the stress popped the solder joints.

Was an easy fix. Bought 4 of them from the company for $50 each, fixed them all in an hour and resold for $250 a piece.

Got lucky.

Personally I'd go out and get a flat panel. They are cheap enough these days and use a lot less real estate.

I find less eye strain with them as well.

It is a flat panal "View Sonic"

5-6 years old, is that a good life?

In a nutshell, Yes.

You should reasonably expect 15,000 hours of use at 50% of maximum specified luminance. Do the math.

Replace it, you've gotten your money's worth from that monitor. It's probably blurry and dim compared to a new one. Your eyes will thank you!

My Viewsonic VPD150 is that old and still going strong. Looks like I have one more worry.

Oh but look they have a 20" one that pivots from landscape to Portrait like my old 15".

http://www.viewsonic.com.au/products/productspecs.php?id=242

I just picked up a nice Envision 22 for $300. CoompUSA.