Screen Saver Won't Activate

My screen saver stopped working a while back after I installed a program. I uninstalled the program, wrote the company and got a reply that their software would not affect the screen saver. I have checked the settings for the screen saver & it will work on the preview, but it won't activate when left alone. Any suggestions? I have a Dell and can't reinstall the OS.
Thanks,
Dbird

 

Hi Dbird,

Could you give a bit more info please?
1. What screensaver were you using?
2.What program did you install and uninstall?
3.What is the screensaver activation time?

Have you tried another screensaver from the list?

Pete.

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,
I can give you some things to check.

Under Themes, if you are running a non-standard theme, set it to Windows XP or maybe even "Classic ".

As mentioned, use a standard screensaver setting until you find the cause of the problem.

In Power Options, try running the options "never ", you can reset the old or try new settings if the screensaver starts to work.

If it is a wireless mouse, there may be interference with the signals.
If you use the mouse on a shiny surface, try it on a dull surface.
Try another mouse if possible.

If it seems certain that the program appears to have caused it, you could try installing the program again (it if says to restart the computer, restart), then uninstall it again. I would (definitely) consider going to Safe Mode and running the uninstall there.

Matt

 

Thank you for your responses.
I previously had my windows theme on Window Classic Modified and changed it to Windows Classic. The program was Ghost Surf2005 (yes, I did this sometime last year). My wait time is set to 1 minute simply out of frustration.
I have had the pwoer options on "never" but even when I give it a time (like 1 hour), nothing ever happens - no hibernate, no shut down. I don't have a wireless mouse or keyboard, nothing is running in the background as far as I can tell, I had this problem when I was still using a mouse with a ball. I will try the reinstall & uninstall from safe mode.
Please let me know if there are any other suggestions.
Thanks!

 

I did the reinstall then uninstalled in safe mode & still no-go. Also, when this first happened, I tried to do a system restore to a date previous to the install & that didn't help either. I currently run CA Internet Suite and I had Spybot Search and Destroy installed that I run regularly.
Dbird

 

Hi,

I used GhostSurf.Did not affect the screensavers.
Some programs that do and often have setings for them,
are AV scanners,malware scanners eg like Spybot S&D and also
CD/DVD burning programs, since you want no interference
when they're doing their job.There are others.

Another area you may want to explore is if there is a policy set
that prevents the screen saver from running.

For that you could check the Group Policy Editor
I don't know which version of XP you're running
and if you have this editor on your computer.
It's easy enough to check.
Just go to Start > Run and type gpedit.msc
If the Editor opens ,you have it; if it doesn't ,you don't so you can skip
the stuff below

*Symbol > in this case indicates "go to" or expand (click the + sign)

Local Computer Policy > User Configuration > Administrative Templates >Control Panel > Display
You will see some entries re screensaver in the list.
They should all say "Not configured "
If Screensaver timeout says something different,click on that line.
You will see a description in the left sidebar or under Properties - Explain

See below,especially the last paragraph.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is a description of the Screen Saver timeout Properties -Explain
Specifies how much user idle time must elapse before the screen saver is launched.

When configured, this idle time can be set from a minimum of 1 second to a maximum of 86,400 seconds,or 24 hours.
If set to zero, the screen saver will not be started.

This setting has no effect under any of the following circumstances:

- The setting is disabled or not configured.

- The wait time is set to zero.

- The "No screen saver" setting is enabled.

- Neither the "Screen saver executable name" setting nor the Screen Saver tab of the client computer's Display Properties dialog box
specifies a valid existing screensaver program on the client.

When not configured, whatever wait time is set on the client through the Screen Saver tab of the Display Properties dialog box is used.
The default is 15 minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This means when it says Enabled and under Properties a time was set,
that time may override your settings under Display Properties (via Desktop)

Another solution
http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-46006-ScreenSaver-will-not-work.html

Registry script (.reg file)
Enable/Disable screen saver
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-5572452.html

Hope this helps.
Pete

 

I did a search at Dell for "screensaver" and there were a few threads in their forums. Looking through one of the big threads, I saw most of the suggestions that I mentioned, although another was to disable startup programs using msconfig (Start -> Run, enter msconfig -> Startup tab).

Maybe important, maybe not, you mention setting it to one minute. I expect it works set at one minute. I have seen another thread regarding "one minute" and it was mentioned in the Dell forums. I ran out of time looking, I just wonder if it may be something to do with the programs that are supplied with the Dell computer. Try reading some of the threads at the Dell forum and searching for, say, "screensaver minute" at the Dell website or forums.

Matt

 

I have recently been having problems with getting my Screen Saver to work or for the computor to power down and have read this thread with great interest. In the Another solution below;-

Another solution
http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windo...-not-work.html

Someone mentioned having problems with their wireless mouse fooling the comp into thinking things were still active and therefore did not bring on the Screen Saver.

This made me think. I have just recently been using a mouse on my graphics pad and leaving the mouse in position? Normally use the pen.

I removed the mouse from the pad and low and behold the screen saver came on again after the 1 minute time interval I had set
Just thought this may help someone else with this problem.

As a matter of interest I had another problem with difficulties in starting my Laptop with graphics pad and mouse resting on top of pad. Remove mouse from Wacom pad and no problem Laptop continues to start and installs Win Xp

 

Thank you all for your help. I finally decided to stop being hard-headed and think outside the box a little. Turns out that it was my optical mouse - though mine was wired. I kept tossing out that idea as both keyboard and mouse were physically connected.

Thanks for taking the time to put out your suggestions!

Dbird

 

Thank you for letting us know how you solved it.

It seems to be an area where many factors may be involved.

Matt