Windows XP forum: Screensaver won't turn on

I tried this fix, but it made no difference. best I can tell, the screensaver is enabled in the registry. It just won't come on unless I start it manually. It will blank the screen when scheduled to, but the saver itself will not start.

Any other ideas??

You're suggestion to go to Item 51 worked perfectly. Thanx for your great help. Harry B

do you use a wireless keyboard and mouse?

If so, look at this thread;
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=136713&messageID=1538311

Mark

Hello all that have this problem. I have a customer that aquired the problem so through some investigation this is what I found to correct it. Besides what others had for their solutions! ! !
** If these keys exist - delete all; They intercept calls to screensaver start. Check for this under all ControlSet(s). Now keep in mind RCV2 does exist.. DO NOT DELETE this one. This is the one you need for the screensaver call to work. **

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Nls\MUILanguages\RCV

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Nls\MUILanguages\RCV

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet004\Control\Nls\MUILanguages\RCV

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\MUILanguages\RCV

Let me know if this doesn't coorrect your situation, because I might know of another one that could help.

this may be a virus...scan with superantispyware (a full system scan on all your hard drives, this will take hours, but you don't need to sit and watch/wait for it to complete).

Then post your results back once that's done.

with the SUPERAntispyware already suggested and with Malwarebytes' Anti-malware, just to be doubly sure. Those utilities are the new kids on the block, and are finding lots of things that the more established scanners miss nowadays.

Tell us about this computer. Any other Power Options selected? Any other issues?

Mark

Not something I have come across before.

Just an obvious question though, so my apologies in advance, is your account password protected? If it wasn't I could, perhaps, see a conflict.

If it is, do you have other password protected accounts on this system? if so, what happens if you log in to Windows using one of the others and try the screen saver?

Mark

This is a reply to both MarkFlaks and Proffitt.

I have 2 laptops that don't exhibit this problem - I have enabled the "On resume, password protect" on both of them and the screen saver activates after the specified inactivity.

However, my main desktop is on a domain. We use Novell for authentication (I know, I can hear your eyes rolls from here). So I really don't have any non-password accounts, nor do I have access to the Welcome screen.

One of the reasons I have the password protection enabled is because I don't feel comfortable at work leaving my PC unprotected. (not just from prankster co-workers, but I also have access to some sensitive data that I don't want others viewing). I could just hit the Windows+L key to lock my workstation, but I would much rather prefer a screen saver instead.

What is most crazy is that I didn't have any problems until a few months ago. It seemed that if I closed 1 of my open applications, then the screen saver would function normally. But lately I can't get it to function without the password option being unselected.

I'm just really confused with this.

(oh, I ran the fast scans and only found tracking cookies - I'll do the more through scans tonight)

I realized that I was only on XP sp2 - so I upgraded to sp3, and the screensaver will function sometimes now.

There seems to be some interaction between VNC viewer and the screensaver with password turned on. I have tried several VNC viewers (TightVNC, UltraVNC, WinVNC) and they all will keep my screensaver from launching when I have the "on resume, password protect" option enabled. Before I launch the VNC viewer the screen saver will function perfectly. As soon as I launch the VNC viewer, the screen saver will not launch, and then (this is most strange) when I close the VNC viewer app, sometimes the screen saver will work again, and sometimes it will not. Almost like the VNC viewer is still running in my computer's memory even after closing it.

Does anyone know of an interaction between VNC viewer applications and the password protection on the screen saver?

Since my Vista 64 bit PC (HP) I have the same from time to time. Every time I can 'fix' it by going to the screensaver settings and changing the start time from 4 to 5 and back and hit apply.
However, after a while, and it was indeed last time after some Microsoft updates were applied, it happened again. My wireless optical mouse no longer seem to work so that is now a cabled one, but my keyboard is the supplied one that came with the PC and is wireless.

I have a helper program (stardust screensaver) that allows you to disable the screen saver for 30, 60 minutes , so watching you tube's movies can be done undisturbed. When the screensaver does not kick in automatically I can select the option "launch screen saver now" and it won't do it. But it won't start automatically either in that case. Selecting the .SCR manually is OK, so nothing wrong with the program, only it won't run either automatically or via the helper program.

Is there a registry key being reset each time ? Anyone? after which event, applying (security) patches from Microsoft as suggested elsewhere in this thread?