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Screen Saver on 10.8.2 Fails to Activate

I upgraded four Macs to 10.8.2 (iMac, 2 MacBook Pros and Mac mini) and the Mac mini is the only one where the screen saver stopped working. Too bad, because this one is our media center, hooked up to a projector and a small 12" display. The 12" display stays on, displaying the photo montage screen saver (Vintage Photos), and works really nicely as a photo frame.

I've tried a bunch of things, including repairing permissions, restarting, changing screen savers, and it started working once, but then it stops working again.

Seems like theres a bug in the timer that tracks mouse inactivity or something, as the screen saver fails to activate.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sep 22, 2012 5:12 AM

165 replies

Mar 1, 2013 6:47 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

I am using a HD TV has my monitor. Lid on Macbook never opens. I had Remote Management turned on under Sharing in System Preferences. I unchecked that and made sure that Screen Sharing was also unchecked, issue is gone.....maybe for now. I'll just have to see what happens in the days to come.

PokeyT

Level 1

4 points

Mar 1, 2013 7:32 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

I still continue to have issue but know the pattern now...at least for me. As I posted earlier, my issue deals with playing video content whether on a webpage or via iTunes. After exiting Safari or iTunes, PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep is set to 1. Going into activity monitor and killing task powerd (it will start up a new one) will set PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep back to 0 and screen saver kicks in after appropriate idle time. I can duplicate this situation over and over again so definitely at least one of the patterns causing issues for me.

Mar 3, 2013 6:11 PM in response to PokeyT

This is pretty much my exact issue too! Its more than just video being played, its any non-system audio going over HDMI that disables the screensaver from playing. I've detailed it in another post, but Apple needs to address this as I am using a plasma as my primary display. If this isnt fixed soon, I'll have a burnt plasma.

Mar 14, 2013 3:06 PM in response to Mark Jenkinson

Okay, finally Apple has released 10.8.3. Updating as I type, fingers crossed this fixes this for good. Will report back.

Len Gold

Level 1

30 points

Mar 14, 2013 3:30 PM in response to Mark Jenkinson

I'm with you Mark - been checking every morning and evening for this update. Fingers crossed indeed!

Mar 14, 2013 3:31 PM in response to Mark Jenkinson

Finally is putting it mildly!

I finished upgrading to 10.8.3 as well.

Just reactivated my system screen saver.

Hope this does the trick.

Will also report back.

Mar 14, 2013 3:49 PM in response to constantmotion

MIne has been holding on strong since I made this change.

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zikmangr

Level 1

4 points

Mar 15, 2013 1:12 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

FINALLY GUYS!!!

Guess what!

It is fixed with 10.8.3!

Mar 15, 2013 1:17 AM in response to eriksson.e

Upgrading to 10.8.3 solved my issue. I can log in via screensharing and after quitting screensharing powerd no longer prevents screensaver from kicking in.

Great news!

Xofb

Level 1

0 points

Mar 15, 2013 3:11 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

Y E S !

Mar 15, 2013 5:13 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

Well, after 6 months, we get a fix! Just wanted to thank everyone for their help and suggestions. I'm gonna miss you all. 😝

Mar 15, 2013 5:20 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

My saver has been working perfectly since yesterday's upgrade.

I know that in the past it would sometimes run for a few days and then stop again, so I'm cautously optimistic at this time.

Hope I'm not speaking too soon, but Hooray for 10.8.3!!!

Thanks Mark for starting this thread.

😀

mrgadge

Level 1

0 points

Mar 15, 2013 5:28 AM in response to corvairkid

Hey Guys great news Finally!!! I hate to say it But ITold You So !! 6 months ago just Sorry it took soo long.Enjoy and Have Fun JimP

Mar 15, 2013 7:30 AM in response to Mark Jenkinson

Unfortunatley guys, this still has not fixed my machine! My screensaver will still NOT activate as long as I am playing audio over my HDMI output. :-(

Mar 15, 2013 8:05 AM in response to Flinkazoid

Sorry to hear that Flinkazoid. I don't use HDMI for audio, so I can't corroborate, but I wonder if the false assumption that MacOSX is making is that since HDMI is primarly a video coupled with audio intertface, it's assuming that you're also pushing video over the HDMI, and in that case you wouldn't want the screen saver to kick in. I don't know the HDMI spec, but maybe MacOS doesn't consider that special case. At any rate, you may want to start a new thread, to address your specific issue. My first question is, did it work before?

Screen Saver on 10.8.2 Fails to Activate