Screen saver will not start

Do you have XP SP1a installed it fixes some problems with screen saver.?

If you select another screen saver does it start.?
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Edit;
You could also check HKEY
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
ScreenSaveActive    is  1
ScreenSaverIsSecure   is  0
ScreenSaverTimeout    is     60     (seconds)
SCRNSAVE.EXE    is    the screen saver you selected , ie:  C:\WINDOWS\System32\ssstars.scr

Message Edited by gryjhnhpe on 04-04-2004 08:49 AM

A work-a-round in case issue still after doing gryjknhpe's good suggestion for making sure updates are installed.

Quickly Start Screensaver:

Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder, then click on the "Tools" tab, and scroll to folder options.  Then click on the "View" tab, and put check-mark in "Show hidden files and folders", uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types", uncheck "Hide protected operating system files".  Then click on OK tab at bottom.  Click on "View" tab of the system32 folder and click so details is marked, then click on "Arrange icons....by type".  Then all your *.scr savers will be grouped that are available in the folder.  Choose one to use, right click on it and scroll to "Send to..Desktop(Create shortcut)". 

Right clicking on the desktop shortcut will allow configuring the screensaver.

Left clicking on the desktop shortcut will start the screensaver.                                                   

Message Edited by Free_Help on 04-03-2004 04:37 PM

thanks gryjhnhpe,

         sorry i put the wrong folder ...will fix prvious post.  thanks for helping

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@Free_Help wrote:

A work-a-round in case issue still after doing gryjknhpe's good suggestion for making sure updates are installed:

Quickly Start Screensavers

1. Double-click the My Computer icon from the Desktop.

2. Double-click the "C:\" icon.

3. Double-click the "Windows" icon.

4. Screensaver files are listed in this folder.

If you can't locate the screensaver you are looking for, try clicking the Start button, point to "Find", and select "Files or Folders". Search for "*.scr" (without the quotes). This search will return a list of all the screensavers on your computer. Then, follow "Step 4-5" to create the shortcut. Right clicking on shortcut will allow configuring the screensaver.                                                      

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The above info isn't correct as the Screen Saver files are in  C:\WINDOWS\system32 so after step  3. You must add step  3b.
Double-click on the  system32 Folder icon.

Also if you use Search you must also have "Advanced Options" ticked & tick boxes for "Search system folders" , "Search Subfolders" .

Thank you all for your suggestions. As it turned out I had a conflict with another application. I went into msconfig and started turning off startup programs. The one that was causing the problem was Dell Media Experience. After removing it from my new Dell PC (I didn't really want it anyway) the screen saver works like a champ.

Brian

Good Idea as D. M. E  by default also prevents "Show windows contents while dragging" from remaining ticked.