Can't switch to external monitor anymore

joeuser

I'm running Windows XP on an older Siemens-Fujitsu Esprimo Mobile 6535 laptop (native res. 1200x800) with a Mobile Intel® GMA 4500M graphics chip.

I need to connect it daily to an Acer 2216W monitor (native res. 1650x1050) via VGA cable (there's no digital-out on the laptop). It never worked instantly, but after a few tries it usually did, for several years.

Lately, the problem got worse and worse. Last week I spent nearly half an hour pressing Fn-F10 again and again before I had a picture on the monitor. Every time I try to switch displays, the monitor flickers once before going black again.

The funny thing is, when I set the secondary display to the Acer's 1650x1050 resolution and switch back and forth, the monitor flickers, goes black and the laptop switches to a 1650 resolution.

In the Windows system display I find five nondespript monitors. A free tool (EDID Viewer) to read monitor settings from the Windows registry shows nine, one of which should be the laptop display.

I've updated the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver yesterday, to no effect. The new version properly identifies the Acer monitor, but that's it.

What's wrong here?

joeuser

Today I realized that when I switch the monitor on, the Acer logo doesn't show and the onscreen menu doesn't show either when I press the menu button. It seems like a hardware failure now.

 

The monitor is five years old. It had a slightly loose power-in socket from the beginning, but apart from that, it worked fine. Switching from my laptop to the Acer display took several attempts before it came on, though, and the problem got worse over time. Lately I had to switch back and forth dozens of time before I finally got a picture.

 

The funny thing is that when it finally worked, everything was fine. A clear, bright image for hours.

 

Does that sound familiar? Maybe just an old capacitor? It it worth trying the Acer Lifextention service, or would repairing an old piece of hardware like this cost more than a comparable new monitor?

 

Thanks for any help!

 

[edited to reflect combined topic]