Screensaver activates even when set to never

Question

Level 1

34 points

Screensaver activates even when set to never

My screensaver starts up automatically after a few short minutes of inactivity (e.g. when I am reading a webpage) even though I have set it to never start up. Under my Energy settings, the setting is 'Always On'.

Any idea why this is happening? I have this occurring on my iMac and MBA, both running 10.5.2, no hacks, no strange programs installed.

Powerbook G4, Mac Mini 1.42, 24"iMac Intel, Macbook 2.2GHz, AppleTV, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on May 16, 2008 4:24 PM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

May 16, 2008 6:16 PM in response to Missy L

you are welcome!

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Answer 2

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

May 16, 2008 4:26 PM in response to Missy L

The screen saver timer is not in the Energy Saver pref pane. The display sleep timer is what you see the Energy Saver pane.

The screen saver timer is in the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane.

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Answer 3

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

May 16, 2008 5:06 PM in response to Missy L

Quit system preferences and trash every file in homedirectory/Library/Preferences/byHost
that starts with com.apple.screensaver...

Now open system prefs and set screen saver options again.
see if it works ok now.

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Answer 4

Missy L Author

Level 1

34 points

May 16, 2008 4:45 PM in response to Király

Sorry, I did not make myself clear.

I set the screen saver to 'Never' in the Desktop & Screen Saver pane.

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Answer 5

Missy L Author

Level 1

34 points

May 16, 2008 5:46 PM in response to V.K.

Unfortunately, this did no solve the problem. The stupid screen saver starts up in 2 minutes even though the setting is 'Never'! I will try repairing permissions and rebooting...

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Answer 6

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

May 16, 2008 5:54 PM in response to Missy L

does the problem affect all user accounts? if you only have one, create a new account and see how things are there.

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Answer 7

Missy L Author

Level 1

34 points

May 16, 2008 6:13 PM in response to Missy L

Rebooting the Mac after removing the library/pref/byhost/apple.com.screensaver file seems to have solved the problem for now.

Thanks for helping!

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