Screen saver doesn't work

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Bergie

New Member
Hi All

I am using Vista on a HP computer.
On my desktop I had a screen saver that worked quite well. (it is just the one that came with the Vista) It would come on in the amount of time that I had it set for and it would go to sleep at the set time too.
Without changing any settings it quit working. It will work if I maually go into the control panel and set it every time I boot up the computer.
When I shut down and re-start I have to re-set it manually again.

Any help would be a ppreciated.

Thanks
 
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Nanobyte

New Member
You can also get to the settings via Desktop, right click, Properties, Screen Saver tab. That gives you screensaver and power saver access.

When you go in to reset the screen saver, have the settings actually changed or is it simply the act of going in and out that does the trick?

Another cause of the screen saver not kicking in is if the mouse or keyboard have a bad contact that is intermittently making. Also a problem with mice in the days of rubber balls. Sometimes a fleck of rubber was sticking to the ball and over time the ball would roll slightly off the fleck. That would count as user input. These days with higher res, any slight movement of the mouse is going to set the screen saver timer back to zero. You may also need to update the mouse driver from the optional Windows updates.
 
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Bergie

New Member
Nanobyte said:
When you go in to reset the screen saver, have the settings actually changed or is it simply the act of going in and out that does the trick?.
Click to expand...

Yes the setting changes itself to 1.
I have to change it to something other than 1 for it to work again.

Mouse doesn't have a ball but I will try disconnecting it and rebooting...
 
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Nanobyte

New Member
Bergie said:
Yes the setting changes itself to 1.
I have to change it to something other than 1 for it to work again.
Click to expand...
1 what? I assume 1 minute.

Mouse doesn't have a ball but I will try disconnecting it and rebooting...
Click to expand...
I mentioned that in passing, very few people have mice with balls these days (a definite problem with reproduction!). Although the settings problem seems to be the issue, something else I would try (again I mention in passing only) would be to reset the screensaver using the keyboard and not touching the mouse. Then see what happens.

Have you tried saving your Desktop as a new personal scheme, Themes tab?
 
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Nanobyte

New Member
When you bring up Display Properties by whatever route, one of the tabs is Themes. There is a brief explanation on the tab. If you create your own theme, you can quickly change to one of the other themes and then back.

All you need to do right now is set the screen saver time, then go to the Themes tab, Save As and use whatever name you want. If you want to customize further (sounds, icons etc) you can do that later. Next time you reboot the theme should be the last one you used, which will be your custom theme.

I'm suggesting that to see if it remembers your screen saver time better than using a default theme.
 
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Nanobyte

New Member
If it does that after a reboot, I'm stumped. After reboot does it show the custom theme you saved?

An alternative is to try changing the time in the registry. Here's a link that describes what to do. Follow the instructions in "Change the Logon Screen Saver Timeout Time". Presumably you will currently have "60" as the setting (1 minute).
 
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Nanobyte

New Member
All I can suggest is to try a different screen saver to the one you are using and also scan your PC for viruses. Setting a screen saver time is normally so simple, as you know. After you set the screen saver time manually, you could check its value immediately before and after the next reboot to see when the value changes.
 
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Bergie

New Member
Today I re-booted my computer with my old mouse (with a ball) plugged into it. The screen saver came on all by itself and the machine went to sleep as it was supposed to do, but it also woke up without being touched...?

Tomorrow I will go out and buy a new mouse. I think that may be my problem.
 
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Nanobyte

New Member
Before you go, start up the pc with the old mouse, take the ball out, and see if it goes to screensaver and stays there. That should eliminate any jogs to the surface it's on. Got a pesky cat by any chance? Rats, cockroaches, annoying little brothers/kids?

Edit: Don't forget the problem can be caused by any other manual input such as the keyboard.
 
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Bergie

New Member
No kids, cats, roaches, mice...LOL!

Now I'm noticing that it wakes up when the messenger lets me know there is a new email. It didn't do that before.
 
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