Screen Saver Has Never Worked

[shadowbru]

I've got an XP Pro Dell machine and the screen saver has never worked since day one. I've looked at all the discussions and my settings are correct in the registry. This machine runs Nortons Internet Security 2004.

I installed the same screen saver on another XP Pro machine that only runs Norton Anti-Virus 2004 and it works great.

The video driver is fine on the first machine and I've checked all the registry settings and the screen saver is in the windows/system32 folder.

I'm getting to hate XP!

 

[jrbarnett]

What do you mean "Never worked?" - right click on the desktop, choose properties, screensaver and ensure that the correct screensaver is selected, that the wait time is set and that if you click the "Preview" button, it comes up correctly.

John

 

[linney]

Some software like MRU Blaster by Javacool Software can cause Screensaver problems.


Or try this thread.
XP Pro Screensaver Quit Working
thread779-453976

Windows XP Screensaver Timeout Problem
thread779-639552

Screen Saver Problem
thread779-789312


310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[shadowbru]

What I mean by never worked, none of the Windows default screen savers have ever worked. I can, however, select any screen saver that I want to use and preview it just fine, but it will never come on whether I choose 1, 5 or 10 minutes. It just won't activate. My power settings have been turned off as well as hybernation.

I am not running MRU Blaster and while I did try to install an updated Digiview (my monitor) driver, it still defaults to Plug and Play. My registry settings are:

ScreenSaveActive=1
ScreenSaverIsSecure=0
ScreenSaveTimeOut=300
SCRNSAVE.EXE=C:\Windows\System32\dogsav3.scr

I don't know what else to check. I have viewed every thread in tek-tips on this subject, and screen savers of any kind are just not activating.

 

[linney]

Did you try the Experts Exchange link in this thread?

Windows XP Screensaver Timeout Problem
thread779-639552

Have you tried seeing if the Screensaver works correctly in Safe Mode?

Does the inbuilt XP Windows screensaver work if you let your machine just sit at the login screen for a about 15 minutes or so? That's the black XP logo type of screensaver I'm talking about.

Run the System File Checker program from the Run Box by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it and have your XP CD handy.

HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/5/14.asp

 

[shadowbru]

The only screen saver that works in Safe Mode is the XP screen saver.

I also have 156 unsigned drivers, but don't know what to do with them.

I'll also try running the sfc this evening.

 

[linney]

Run the sigverif from the Start Run box (again) but don't have it check every file in C/Windows or you will get funny results as it checks every type of file including text files etc.

Verify Unsigned Device Drivers.

Click Start, click Run, type sigverif, and then click OK.
Click Advanced.
Click Look for other files that are not digitally signed.
In the Look in this folder box, type x:\Windows\system32\drivers, where x is the letter of the drive where Windows XP is installed.
On the Logging tab, make sure the Save the file signature verification results to a log file check box is selected, and then click OK.
Click Start.

NOTE: The log file is named Sigverif.txt, and it is saved in the Windows folder. Third-party drivers that are unsigned are displayed as "Not signed." Use the drivers in this list as your troubleshooting starting point.


The fact that your screensaver doesn't work in Safe Mode complicates the matter because none of the unsigned drivers or third party programs would be likely to load in Safe Mode anyway.

Are there any settings in Group Policy at this location that may be interfering?

Local Computer Policy/ User Configuration/ Administrative Templates/ Control Panel/ Display/

Make sure that the user of the screensaver has not had his permission to read registry keys denied where it concerns the screensaver.


Any results from your SFC will be displayed in the Event Viewer (System) under a Windows File Protection line.

 

[bcastner]

If you are using Group Policy, likely you have an outdated .adm file. In the original, the screensaver settings were:

Value: ScreenSaverIsSecure
1 enabled, 0 not enabled

Original Key value:
Key: "Control Panel\Desktop"

Revised:
Key "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\ControlPanel\Desktop"

 

[shadowbru]

First, let me thank everyone for responding - I sincerely appreciate any assistance I can get.

Here's what I've done so far:

I ran sfc /scannow and event viewer indicated 3 files that could not be restored to its original version and they are:

oembios.sig
oembios.dat
oembios.bin

Sigverif found 15 unsigned drivers which are:

1028_dell_dim_dim2... mxlw2k.sys
asctrm.sys omci.sys
basfnd.sys pxhelp20.sys
drvmcdb.sys sscdbhk5.sys
drvnddm.sys ssrtln.sys
fad.sys symredir.cat
fad9x.inf symredir.inf
fadxp32.sys

Also looked at Group Policy and under Local Computer Policy/User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Control Panel/Display/ - everything says "not signed".

The user has administrator rights.

 

[bcastner]

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control
Panel\Desktop\ScreenSaveActive
set to a string value of 1 and not a DWORD value.

As I was trying to say, the earlier .adm files wrote to an earlier registry key that no longer is looked at after XP Service Pack 1 or 1a.

 

[shadowbru]

I don't have anything listed under HKCU/Software/Policies/Microsoft/Windows/ControlPanel/Desktop/ScreenSaveActive

Mine are listed under HKCU/Control Panel/Desktop and
ScreenSaveActive is set to 1 and is not a DWORD value but rather Reg_SZ.

Shall I create the policy under the first paragraph?

 

[bcastner]

Yes.

No gaurantees, but if you have XP with Service Pack 1 installed the key was changed.

 

[linney]

ScreenSaveActive" appears in these locations when the Group Policy is not configured. Keys after the first two may vary in name and number depending on number and type of users.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-507921405-839522115-725345543-1008\Control Panel\Desktop




If you enable it in Group Policy "ScreenSaveActive" appears in these keys. Again, Keys after the first three may vary in name and number depending on number and type of users.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

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

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-507921405-839522115-725345543-1008\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-507921405-839522115-725345543-1008\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop

In all cases the valuedata is 1 for active or 0 for disabled (Reg_SZ)



If you are interested in the strange names of keys read about "Security identifiers" in the Help and Support program.

 

[shadowbru]

I double checked all my registry settings and they are set in all areas correctly.

The screen saver still won't come on.

I uninstalled the product which is

http://www.dogsaver.com

and the product was named yorkie. I also went through the registry and removed any mention of the dogsaver name.

I downloaded the program again and it automatically appears as wallpaper on the desktop. The screen saver installed by default to the c:\windows folder and I copied the *.scr file to system32. I also noticed that the screen saver installs as dogsav~1.scr. Initially I changed the name to dogsav3.scr (but that didn't work either). Even the newly installed version dogsav~1.scr won't run.

Before I bought this program, I downloaded the trial version on my Dell laptop and it worked just fine which is the only reason I installed it on the Dell Dimension.

None of this makes any sense.

 

[linney]

Did you test any other screensaver while this dogsav~1.scr was not on your machine to see if any of the other screensavers from Microsoft worked?

Another thing I have seen mentioned is that if the path in the registry to your screensaver is in Dos format (ie dogsav~1.scr) changing it to pure English and using " " to enclose the full path may help. You would end up with something like this as the path "C:\WINDOWS\system32\Dogsaver.scr" Actually you wouldn't need the quotes if there are no spaces in the path name.

 

[bcastner]

I am curious about the short file name format. Some of these .scr files are really .exe files, and:
. may require some library files; quoting dogsaver.com:
The following files should already be installed in \windows\system
MSVBVM50.DLL
ASYCFILT.DLL
COMCAT.DLL
OLEAUT32.DLL
OLEPRO32.DLL
STDOLE2.TLB

. may require that the file not be renamed, or at least not changed from its long form.
. dogsaver.com notes too that there will be do display if the queue list contains a blank entry.

 

[shadowbru]

Since I did not have any of the above mentioned files, I downloaded the *.exe from MS's website and installed the msvbvm50.exe and installed it. It installed in the system32 folder so I copied those files and put them in the system folder.

I uninstalled the product and reinstalled it and it automatically names it dogsav~1.scr (again with the DOS naming convention). When I renamed it in the registry and pointed to the dogsaver3.scr name, the screen saver automatically points to None and the
HKey_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop reverts back to dogsav~1.scr.

Putting quotes around the screen saver name did absolutely nothing.

 

[linney]

Have you tried your screensaver in one of the other compatibility mode settings?

If you were missing the System files in "Bcastner's" post (seems a bit strange as you have already run SFC?), it might pay you to run the System File Checker program again.

Can you run any of the Windows screensavers?

 

[bcastner]

Perhaps Active Desktop is disabled?

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/activedesktop.vbs

 

[gigahertz]

Check that the Workstation Service has "allow service to interact with desktop" checked.