9x Screensavers (like "Underwater") on XP

Hey Folks,

There are a few old 9x Screensavers, such as "Underwater," that will show up in Display Properties if you place the .svr and the corresponding .dll in the System32 folder, but only run a black screen. The problem seems to occur mainly in the ones that have both a .svr and a .dll file combination. I tried running the regsvr32 on the files but that didn't help. Has anyone found a way to get Underwater, etc. to work on XP?

 

Install, Configure, Test, they all run. But the screensaver is just a black screen. By all accounts, it seems Windows thinks they're running correctly. It also doesn't matter where you put the files. Windows, System, System32, they all run it black. It appears in the screensaver tab of Display Properties and runs, but just the black screen with no sound. And its only a few screensavers (the ones from 98 that have matching .dll files to be placed in the same folder) that have this problem. Any others work fine, whether 3rd party or the Plus! ones. I use Serene Screen's full Aquarium, but I still miss that shark and the "glug, glug" sounds of Plus's Underwater. There are similar on the web that run fine but it would be nice if that one worked.

Dennis

 

See if this article on Windows File Protection gives you any ideas of the problem and possibly a fix.

 

Thank you Newt. Unfortunately, I don't see the relation to the screensavers. I'm not attempting to replace any protected files, just to add a few screensavers and their related dlls. All the rest but these few Microsoft provided ones work fine. I just think they're somehow not compatible with XP and thought someone might have figured out a way to make them so.