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Xp screen saver wont engage

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by sillyboy, 2011/03/04.

  1. 2011/03/04
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    I went from xp to win 7 and then back to xp and now my screen saver doesnt engage. Any ideas
     
    sillyboy,
    #1
  2. 2011/03/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Welcome to WindowsBBS :)

    Standard XP screensaver or third party screensaver?
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2011/03/05
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    its the standard screensaver..
     
    sillyboy,
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  5. 2011/03/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    PeteC,
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  6. 2011/03/05
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    I have the current service pack 3 but as i was digging i was not able to find the following in my system and i copied and pasted into the run box the following...

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop

    that is not on my laptop. Also it says 64 bit but when i saw my running process's are 32 bit i was confused...doesnt take much lol...so know i dont know if 32 or 64...
     
    sillyboy,
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  7. 2011/03/05
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    That's a registry key not a file, best left alone.

    To determine your operating System and service pack, right click on my computer select properties and look in the System Tab.
     
    wildfire,
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  8. 2011/03/05
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    the operating system is win xp home edition and service pack 3.
     
    sillyboy,
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  9. 2011/03/06
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    OK - you are running the latest Service Pack - the reason I asked was that the screensaver issue was fixed in the first Service Pack - something to do with HID's - USB/Wireless mice.

    But you did not answer the first part of my question ....
     
    PeteC,
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  10. 2011/03/06
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    Right my apologies. I completely wiped my harddrive and did a fresh install of xp.
     
    sillyboy,
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  11. 2011/03/06
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    PeteC,
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  12. 2011/03/06
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    Yes painstakely I used the driver disc from dell to reinstall all the drivers and I updated everything that needed it. I used every resource to reinstall everything. Its not my first time doing this on various other puters over the yrs. The hid prob, I only have a wireless logitech mouse and I unplugged it and still nothing. I thought with the screensaver it was a simple installation when reinstalling an OS. When I insatlled win 7 it did work and then I was playing with some settings and even then after that I was unable to get it to work after that.
     
    sillyboy,
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  13. 2011/03/06
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    It should be - it's part of the OS.

    Have you checked that the .scr files are present in C:\Windows - haven't used XP since 7 appeared.

    I also wonder if your antivirus is blocking *.scr files.

    I might be thinking in terms of a repair of XP given that you have a retail copy of the install CD. You will probably have to slipstream SP3 into it at least, maybe SP 2 as well.
     
    PeteC,
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  14. 2011/03/06
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    so i did a search and found some of my screensavers in windows/system32 folder and also in windows/service pack files/i386. the only scr folder i found was srchasst folder....
    the titles of the screensavers do have the ss before each of their names as well...not sure if this helps...

    "I might be thinking in terms of a repair of XP given that you have a retail copy of the install CD. You will probably have to slipstream SP3 into it at least, maybe SP 2 as well "

    not sure what you mean by that...do you mean putting the OS copy of xp and reinstalling it overtop of what i have now? But that slipstream comment I have no idea what you mean by that.
    thank you for your help so far
     
    sillyboy,
    #13
  15. 2011/03/06
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    I have an old XP box which I use for reference in dealing with BBS issues ....

    You are correct -the .scr files are in the System32 folder. As you have them on board you can forget about my suggestion of a Repair install for the moment - we may come back to it later :)

    If you double click on one of them does it run - until you move the mouse again?
     
    PeteC,
    #14
  16. 2011/03/06
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    thats correct..it works until i move the mouse...and the other thing too is that my laptop wont go on standby or anything as well...the two may be connected somehow
     
    Last edited: 2011/03/06
    sillyboy,
    #15
  17. 2011/03/06
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    I really don't know what to suggest at this point. Googling the issue suggests that XP screensavers can be problematic - not that I recall a problem when running XP - and many of the problems can be down to third party programs.

    Regrettably there is no simple solution.

    For my part I don't have any screensavers active on any of my desktops or laptops - I just set the screen to go off after x minutes.
     
    PeteC,
    #16
  18. 2011/04/15
    sillyboy

    sillyboy Inactive Thread Starter

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    thanks for your time and effort...its much appreciated you taking the time to try to figure this out for me....

    cheers
     
    sillyboy,
    #17

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