Frozen Screen Saver

[cuscus]

Hi, most of the time when I come back to use my computer, the Screen Saver is froze, nothing is moving. I have to hit the Esc. key many times and just wait it out. This is very annoying especially when I'm rushing to access my computer. Would anyone know why this is happening and what to do?

Thanks in advance.

[ancestor(v)]

We need more details. What computer, what OS etc do you use. What kind of screen saver is it? ...

[cuscus]

I work with Microsoft 2000, Windows XP, Internet Explorer 7 and my Screen Saver is Mystify which came with Microsoft Windows.

[ancestor(v)]

How about the energy/energy saving/standby options in the control panel? Maybe there is something causing a sensation...

[cuscus]

:confused: I looked in Control Panel as you suggested but I cannot find anything regarding energy. I found other info about having Outlook Express checking for emails that might cause the problem but not in my case. My OE checks every 30 minutes and my Screen Saver is set for 5 minutes, if my SS was set longer than 30 min. it could have caused it to freeze.

[ancestor(v)]

Does this problem appear right after the activation of the screensaver or after a period of time?

Does the situation change if you switch off all running, but not necessary processes?

[trodas]

Programs (much less screensavers) did no freeze w/o a good reason to do so. One of the possible reasons (much less that Outcrap is auto-checking mail) is instability of the whole machine. Perhaps it is too old, caps are busted and the machine is about to fail and this is the first sign?
Perhaps the Mystify screen saver is killing your onboard integrated graphic card?

I would change the screen saver to the "blank" one, and that should fix the crashes.

If you want to investigate more, then run something graphicaly intensive, like 3DMark (any version) or a 3D game or just... about anything graphicaly intensive. What about the old-good nVidia tree stuff?
http://rapidshare.com/files/85784602/Tree.zip
Make a BIG tree and let it be. If it crash, your machine is unstable and ready to fail. Backup everything and... go get a replacement.

If that survive, then futher test the machine by Prime95 stress-testing sotware. http://trodas.wz.cz/Prime95.zip Do 3 tests, 8 hours each. First a memory test:
http://ax2.old-cans.com/prime95_memtest.gif
(adjust the Min FFT size so you start from 1792 as shown and also adjust the Memory to use to something -200MB from the total physical memory you have in machine, I got 2048MB, so...)

Then CPU test:
http://ax2.old-cans.com/prime95_cputest.gif

...and then PWM test (powering and cooling stability, maximal consuption):
http://ax2.old-cans.com/prime95_pwmtest.gif

If any of those tests report a error, your machine is unstable at it is, and you need to do something with it.