Screensaver Won't Activate

Discussion in 'Software' started by McPhis, Apr 7, 2004.

  1. McPhis

    McPhis Private E-2

    I'm using WindowsXP home and I've had this problem for a while. My screensaver stopped activating automatically after the set amount of time. I've tried changing the screensaver, changing the time before it activates, I've checked the screensaver entries in the registry, installed the latest driver from NVIDIA, and just the other day reinstalled windows. I've tried just about everything. I can see the screensaver when I hit preview and it stays on until I move the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard so I have ruled out any hardware being the cause. I don't have any game controllers connected either. I have the time as 1 min before the screensaver activates and the interesting thing is that if my desktop settings don't completely load after 1 min after logging on then the screensaver works. However, once my desktop is finished loading the screensaver stops working. I've tried disabling all programs when starting up and that didn't work either. I'm thinking it has something to do with NVIDIA or there is something that runs when I logon that is the cause of this problem.

    I know that my computer loads the start-up pograms in a certain order and if there is something loading that I can't detect, it is doing so after McAfee virus scan (which is last) because if McAfee virus scan is still starting up a minute after I logon my screensaver will work. I know it's not McAfee that's the problem because I got McAfee after the problem to rule out any infections.

    Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
     
  2. philselmer

    philselmer Private E-2

    does the screen saver work if you do a preview?
     
  3. alanc

    alanc MajorGeek

    Is "Turn off moitor" set to "Never" in Power Management? If not set it to Never and see what happens.
     
  4. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Dunno if File Indexing will upset the screensaver but its worth having a look to see if you have it active or not as it kicks in when the pc is idle.

    to coin a phrase... have you tried Safe Mode as see if the screensaver experiences the same problem?
     
  5. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    If you have Indexing disabled then it won't make a difference.... I suggested if it was active it may ;)

    as for Safe Mode and SCRs ..... I just chucked another option into the pot... don't have much experience in Safe Mode as I don't generally fluff up my PC to warrant the need to use that boot option :D
     
  6. McPhis

    McPhis Private E-2

    Thanks for all of the replies. The card I'm running is a GeForceMX440. I forgot to mention that my power options don't work either. I have all of them disabled right now but I did do a test to see if my monitor would turn off by itself after one hour and it did not work. That's when I was convinced that the internal clock that keeps track of these times was not working. That's when I reinstalled windows. I've heard that certain programs can cause this problem. This all started after my girlfriend's little sister played on my PC while I was at work. When I got home the standard window's screensaver was on the screen so I assumed she restarted my PC and that no one (the standard screensaver will activate if no one is logged onto window's), but when I moved the mouse I was still logged on. This was really wierd because I did not have that screensaver selected in the settings. I also noticed that NEro was open and there was a picture and a message that the picture was ready to be burned to a disk. Can it be Nero causing this problem? I'm really at the end of my wits on this one because I feel like I've tried almost everything possible.
     
  7. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    I don't think that Nero as good as it is can work autonomously, but if you have tried Safe Mode ( yes Screen Savers work in SM ) as this loads a minimum of drivers and startups then yes to help narrow the fault down un-install Nero.

    BTW what version of Nero you have and is it upto date?

    As for power options missing do you in control panel have the Power Options Icon? if yes but have no way of setting the options in their I can only think off hand you have issues with a possible corrupt registry and maybe a re-install is coming in the near future.

    One thing and bear in mind I have not used this fix is @ Kellys Corner they have at No204 a Restore Power Schemes/Configurations registry fix, I have looked at the coding and it "may" fix your missing power options as all the text and menus are listed in the file, BEFORE installing/changing anything into the registry you should backup all important data and set a system restore point..... if you wish to follow this option then download the registry file and double click it to merge it with your registry.... hopefully it may just fix it.
     

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