# windows 8.1 screensaver not working



## oldaz

I hope this is in the right place.
I recently upgraded to an Asus Essentio with windows 8 pre-installed. Straight away I updated to 8.1. The update went well and I spent the next while personalising it. Eventually I tried the screensaver, but no matter which screensaver I use, or what time I set, it doesn't work. I have all the latest drivers installed and everything else seems fine. I checked online and it seems a lot of people have the same problem and there are a lot of suggested remedies. Like quite a few others I've worked my way through the suggestions, but nothing works. Any ideas??


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## Masterchiefxx17

Please follow this guide here to perform a System File Check of Windows: 

How to run SFC /scannow from Command Prompt | Tech Support Forum


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## oldaz

Thank you. Ran SFC as you described. Result "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations". What next??


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## MPR

In Windows 8.1 sometimes the power management settings "trump" the screensaver. For instance, if your power management settings shut down the screen after 15 minutes and the screensaver is set to come on after 30 minutes you won't see the screensaver.


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## oldaz

Thank you but I've checked that and changed it around several times. Screen blanking is set 10 minutes behind screensaver and neither work. According to others (on the web) who have the same problem, unpinning the photo app fixed it for some, but not for others or me. I've also de-activated all the tiles in case any were stopping the screensaver, but to no avail.


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## sobeit

any noticeable vibrations on the computer desk? or where you keep your mouse?


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## oldaz

No, still the same desk as old puter was on, new one even fitted in same cradle so no change there. New USB mouse came with new puter, still using same padded mouse pad. No obvious vibration, living in the country there's no passing traffic either. Thank you.


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## sobeit

only other thing I can think of is to make sure wake up on lan is disable. 

"Wake on LAN" (WOL) behavior in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1


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## oldaz

Computer is set to "balanced" plan, details are as follows - hard disk turn off 20 minutes, IE java to "maximum performance", slideshow "available", wireless adapter to "maximum performance", sleep is set to "never", hybrid sleep is "off", hibernate "never", wakeup timers "enable", USB selective suspend "enable", power button operation "shutdown", PCI express link state power management "moderate power savings", processor minimum 5% cooling "active" maximum 100%, display turn off "15 min" adaptive brightness "on", multimedia when sharing "prevent idling to sleep" when playing video "optimise video".


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## sobeit

extreme longshot - do you download emails? if so, how often does it check? Is it before the screensaver?

you can also try everything in your startup and see if one of them is the cause. 

Disable, Control, Manage Startup programs in Windows 8 | 7


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## oldaz

Have to leave computer for a couple hours. Will shut down Thunderbird and Chrome. Only minimum items in startup. Will see if screensaver or sleep comes on while I'm away. Thanks for help.


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## oldaz

Still not working. Came back to find things as left, no screensaver, no blank screen. Only other thing I have noticed is when shutting down a message appears saying "one app running" immediately before the shutdown. I'll try and find out which one it is and stop it to see if that helps. I imagine others have live apps and screensaver works? I don't see that people would deactivate all their apps when the want the computer to go to screensaver or sleep??


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## GLapka

oldaz said:


> I hope this is in the right place.
> I recently upgraded to an Asus Essentio with windows 8 pre-installed. Straight away I updated to 8.1. The update went well and I spent the next while personalising it. Eventually I tried the screensaver, but no matter which screensaver I use, or what time I set, it doesn't work. I have all the latest drivers installed and everything else seems fine. I checked online and it seems a lot of people have the same problem and there are a lot of suggested remedies. Like quite a few others I've worked my way through the suggestions, but nothing works. Any ideas??


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## GLapka

Had the same problem, & I think I figured it out. I went to control panel and checked my power plan. Apparently the default plan is to have the display turn off after 5 minutes. So what was happening was that my screen saver was actually coming on when I walked away, but after 5 minutes, the display turned off. I changed the power plan to have my display turn off after 4 hours, and the screen saver worked fine.


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## mohamed156

i had the same problem on windows 10
it turns out that vlc player is preventing screensaver from loading
you have to see which processes do that and make windows ignore them


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## oldaz

Problem solved. I deactivated all the tiles on the home screen, uninstalled Java and adjusted the power plan as suggested above. Now screensaver works for the prescribed time, then monitor goes to power saving blank screen if still unattended.
Thanks for help.


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