Sonoma Video Screensaver Not Working

I figured out my problem by doing a Duck Duck Go search and looking at a 3rd party forum. The "energy" tab in Activity Monitor lists all the open programs in a table with one column showing "preventing sleep". I found the problem was a simple Solitaire game that was open in the background. FYI for anyone else needing help.

The spiffy new wallpaper/screensaver doesn't work as advertised. It stops running randomly and doesn't work at all after that. I've tried a number of different ones with the same result, Along with other problems of a basic nature (no dialogue box for printing items in the computer's memory, Facetime doesn't work unless the phone number is previously in memory, etc,), I have to say that as a first time Mac user (mac mini m2 with studio monitor), I'm underwhelmed. This computer is buggy. That is all.

Yes! A restart does fix it for a short time, but after a while the screen saver will not animate whether it is activated by  > Lock Screen, or waiting for the screen saver to activate after the set time. I have verified the same behavior using the default "Sonoma Horizon" screen saver as well as "Sonoma Clouds" and "Oregon Coastline".

Pete2106 wrote:

So when you're on the login screen, the video background plays as expected and then on login, the video comes to a stop as expected, but when the computer goes to screensaver,

the video doesn't start up again like it's supposed to.

If it is not working as expected—

To be proactive you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

Manually activating “Lock Screen”, really isn’t putting it into screensaver mode. You’re telling the Mac to turn off so it will only run for a few seconds and go black. If you let the screensaver come on by itself (see Lock Screen settings), it should run as expected.

Change Lock Screen settings on Mac

I'm having the same problem with my 2017 iMac using Ventura as well as the OP with my 2019 using Sonoma. Since I do not see answers, I'm assuming Apple isn't interested in solving the issue. What gives?

HavasuBum wrote:

I'm having the same problem with my 2017 iMac using Ventura as well as the OP with my 2019 using Sonoma. Since I do not see answers, I'm assuming Apple isn't interested in solving the issue. What gives?

Apple is not here. This is a user forum. Your fellow users provide answers if/when they think they have a solution.

Manually activating "Lock Screen" does start the screen saver animation and will continue to run until the screen goes black after the set time. There was an issue in Sonoma where the animation would not start whether it was manually activated with the Lock Screen or automatically after the set time. My issue was resolved in Sonoma 14.1 and now animates successfully whether is starts manually at  > Lock Screen or automatically after the set time.

HavasuBum, Your fix seems to have worked for me as well. In my case it was Finale and exiting the program apparently did the trick. I don’t quite understand why it worked since (I assume) the computer isn’t actually asleep while it’s running a screensaver. I’m happy that it works now in any case. Thanks!

I would reboot the Mac and see if the issues persist. Also, have you tried other screensaver/wallpapers to see if the issue is also affecting them?

Mine was resolved with the Sonoma 14.1 update.

Lucky for me I don't use the Lock Screen or screen savers. 😎

Glad 14.1 has fixed the issue.

Thanks for posting this. In my case, it was the new WhatsApp application that prevented the system from going to sleep.

Mine seems to be caused by Sonoma 14.1