Broken LCD monitor

Hello, My neighbor has a Gateway 900G LCD monitor which has developed a fault, now, when he switches it on, it only stays on for a couple of seconds then the screen just goes blank. I am presuming an LCD stand alone monitor is pretty similar to a laptop screen, therefore I would say either a faulty back-light or inverter board, or maybe the monitor psu. Can anyone recommend a test procedure so I could find out exactly what the problem is?
Thanks in advance.

Assuming the blank screen is black (blank could mean illuminated but with no image) and the power indicator shows operating mode, then a backlight fault is a safe assumption.

You'd need to open the monitor case and see if you can identify a cause, some people are comfortable doing this, others not.

A faulty CCFL lamp is possible but uncommon. Much more common is a fault in the backlight inverter or PSU. Common causes are bad electrolytic capacitors (often they bulge, split or leak fluid), or there can be bad solder joints on inverter components like transformers or transistors.

Edited by Platypus, 07 February 2011 - 05:46 PM.

Thanks for your help Platypus!