Screensaver not going on?

Question

I recently purchased an Inspiron 1521 notebook in July and have lately been having issues with my screensaver. It is definitely set to go on after 5 minutes, however I will come back over an hour later to find the screensaver not on. I have tried every screensaver and setting, yet it still will not go on. Is there a reason for this? How can I fix the issue? Thanks in advance.

mauisunset · Answer

Check the power management options in Windows.

Also it's possible you have some sort of software or some sort of hardware input that is causing the screensaver to kick out.

Try this: Sent the screen saver to a very simple screen save and set the time to 1 minute. Leave the system alone and see what happens.

Also, are you able to get the screen saver to launch in "demo" mode? I'm not sure if Vista has that feature but XP does.

I had an issue with this before where it was a hardware issue. It was a the custom mouse driver that came with a trackball device I used some years back.

The only fix I could come up with was to disconnect the trackball and stop using it.

kkunes · Answer

Yes, it was caused by hardware. I have a Microsoft wireless mouse connected to the laptop, which I just read often causes this issue. As soon as I unplugged the receiver, my screensaver went on. I'll be calling Microsoft tomorrow to see what they have to say about this

mauisunset · Answer

Thought so... Did you look on Microsoft's KB to see if they had any solutions? What about a newer device driver or if you installed custom MS Mouse software, try uninstalling it and running of the native OS drivers. You might lose some functionality though...

kkunes · Answer

Microsoft DID have an update to install from their website, but after installing it my screensaver went on one time and then never went on again.

misterg666 · Answer

I had the same issue with a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse. The update from Microsoft did fix the screensaver problem, more importantly the 'not turning the screen off after 10 minutes problem', but it made the mouse so unresponsive that I gave up and went with a (not Microsoft) usb mouse and keyboard.

kkunes · Answer

If I called Microsoft about the issue do you think I could get a refund for the mouse? I only bought it about a month ago and it seems like such a waste to buy a new mouse since this one was around $50. I think it's ridiculous that Microsoft would have a product that interferes with the hardware of another of their products..

mauisunset · Answer

If you bought the mouse from MS directly, maybe, otherwise you need to talk to the retailer you bought it from.

Waste_Land_Sava · Answer

I was having the same problems with a new Inspiron M5110 Laptop that I have only had about a week now.

My ScreenSaver refused to come on no matter what. And I'm running Win 7 HP 64bit.

I read these post about a Microsoft Wireless Mouse giving the same problem I was having.

I was using a Gigabyte Cordless Mouse/Keyboard Combo, I thought well it isn't MicroSoft but it's worth a shot I pulled my receiver and set my ScreenSaver for one minute it came right up.

I plugged up a wired keyboard and a Logitech Cordless Mouse and again came up just fine.

So now at least we know it wasn't just MicroSoft Hardware that gives us problems.

Thank You so much for all your post I was just about ready to pull my hair out...

Have a Great Day: Ricky

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Screensaver not going on?

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