Can you help me with my monitor problem (black with short flashes of the image)?

So the problem is this: After the monitor (Samsung 206BW Flatscreen) is off for a few hours, when I turn it on it has problems displaying the picture. It is a blank screen with short flashes of the image every few seconds. It takes a few minutes for the monitor to catch itself and display everything normally.
Now I fear that this is a symptom of impending death. What could be the underlying cause and is there anything I can do myself to fix it? The device has been out of warranty for some time, and I would like to avoid buying a replacement.