Monitor death?

[Ph.D]

Hello everyone, I just joined the forum. This seems like the place get some good advice about monitors and whatnot.

The problem:
I've had my current monitor for about 4 years now. It's a 19" Samsung SyncMaster 940bw. Never had a problem with it until now. A couple of days ago it suddenly stopped working. The power is still on, the little blue light is working, the computer is still working normally but the screen is just blank.
I have tried connecting the screen to a friend's computer but the result was the same. No image whatsoever.
Does this mean my monitor is dead? Is it possible to fix and is it even worth fixing?


The solution?
In case the answer is "No." I'm going to need some help finding a good replacement.
I've been checking a lot of forums and review sites and people have told me the monitor is supposed to be one of the most long-lived parts of a desktop.
Considering the rest of my setup is as old as the SyncMaster I think I'll have to upgrade soon in order to be able to play newer videogames.
So I was thinking, if I have to buy a new monitor I should think ahead and buy one which will last quite a while.

I was thinking
* 22"-24" in size.
* WUXGA resolution if possible but I'm willing to settle for 1920x1080 since 1920x1200 isn't very popular these days.
* DVI connector and HDMI as well if possible.
* My main computer usage consists of browsing the internet and playing videogames. Often FPS games such as HL2 and its compatriots and a bit of RTS.
I've read a lot of nice things about IPS panels but apparently they are still not ideal for video games. I can always sit right in front of my screen but I do like nice colours...
* My budget is < € 500 (I am in Europe) but ~ € 300 if possible.


I've checked out review sites such as tftcentral, cnet, flatpanelshd, anandtech, digitalversus, etc. and also this forum but opinions seem to differ greatly and this makes it very hard to decide.
Some of the recommendations I see popping up more often are:
Dell u2311h
HP ZR24W
Acer GD245H
Samsung BX2450 (unreleased as of yet)


I'm grateful for whatever help I can get.

 

[nlwrandomness]

Bump for having the same problem. My Dell 2209wa worked fine for about a year. One day it blanked for no apparent reason (power light on, screen completely black) and came back on after a minute. This happened repeatedly for the next few days (about once a day) until the monitor just stayed blank.

 

[Ph.D]

Can anyone help us out?

 

[drescherjm]

Does this mean my monitor is dead?

If it did not work on your friend's machine then it is likely dead. If you put your friend's monitor on your machine and it worked that would answer the question..

Is it possible to fix and is it even worth fixing?

If its less than 24 inches it will be cheaper to buy a new monitor. I mean you can get a 20 inch lcd for $120 US no point paying $300+ to fix your 19 inch monitor.

 

[Khanmots]

I had one of my Samsung 204Bs die on me somewhat similarly after the warranty was expired. It wasn't sudden as in your case, this one had let me know it was going happen by requiring a power cycle or two to get started for a while, but eventually that stopped working.

I wound up opening it up and finding bulging caps on the power supply board. Removed them and replaced with ones with similar specs and it's been working for the past year. If you're at the point of thinking of throwing it away it can't hurt to try.

 

[Khanmots]

Oh, and if you decide not to try and fix it yourself, you can probably sell it on ebay for a little bit to someone who peices together refurbed displays out of good parts from non-working ones.

 

[Ph.D]

I guess you're right about the pricing, drescherjm.
And thanks for the selling advice Khanmots, I'll look into selling it.

So what about a replacement? I've read many differing opinions and since there isn't any store out here where I can check them myself. I have to decide from reading online reviews.


EDIT:

I've pretty much narrowed it down to these three:

Acer GD245HQ (aka Acer GD235H)
Dell U2311H
Samsung BX2450 (haven't seen any reviews though)

So which one should it be?