I turned my computer on this morning, and after about 20 seconds, the screen turned black, and stayed black. The light on the monitor was still green.

I have to turn the monitor off, and then turn it back on in order to see something through the monitor, but the screen turns to black about 5 seconds after I do that.

I understand that a screen turning black and the monitor's LED being green would greatly point towards a video card problem, but wouldn't the fact that turning the monitor off > on makes the image work for a couple of second mean that my monitor is defective? It is a 7 years old flat-screen...

Of course, I would test with another monitor if I had one, but I don't. So, my question is this: is it likely that the problem lies with my monitor, or is it almost certain that it's a video card issue?

Thanks.

try booting up in safe mode (hold F8 at startup ).If the monitor works ok, it might mean your graphics driver is faulty. If the same problem occurs it might mean it is the monitor failing or the graphics chip failing. If the monitor works ok in safe mode you should reinstall the graphics driver. If, of course, it is not ok in safe mode you could try:
1.adjust monitor settings(if you have buttons on the monitor)
2.adjust graphics card settings(via control panel - display settings)
3.Check your power management settings, maybe they have been set to turn off monitor after a short period of inactivity. you can find these settings under "sceensaver" tab of display settings.
Hope this helps

I've tried running it in Safe Mode, and the problem is still there. Also as per your suggestion, I tried adjusting the monitor settings using the buttons found on the monitor, and well, when the screen is black, the menu will disappear as well.

It's not the screensaver power management setting that's causing this, nor does it seem to be the graphics card settings.

Considering that turning the monitor off and then on enables the image to display, even though it's for 4-5 seconds (it feels like the duration span has diminished), and also that I can't access the monitor menu when the screen goes black, wouldn't that necessarily mean that the issue lies with my monitor?

I just want to be as certain as possible before I dish out money for a new monitor.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions, majestic0110.

hi there, as you suggested I believe that the monitor is at fault. Is there no opportunity at all to test another monitor to be sure?

Before dishing out yer cash for a new monitor, maybe see if anyone else on this forum has ideas - they may have experienced this themselves before

not sure about where you live but if i had your problem i could just take the tower into local private owned computer shop and there would plug it into there monitor for me to see if it would work ,don't take it to big box store computer shop as they work on commission and will want to sell you a new computer .
also, i to think its your monitor

Well, I just remembered that my laptop had a DVI slot, so I just tried, and the black-out issue happened as well, meaning it definitely is my monitor.

Thank you all very much for your help.