My screensaver will not activate

[Milkman00]

I have Windows 7 x64.

Guys, I am at my wits end with this. I have done everything I can to troubleshoot it and don't know what else to do. I suppose it could be a Directx corruption, but I cannot find a good way to repair the directx installation.

When I first boot up my computer, the screensaver seems to run normal. It will activate after the correct amount of idle time. I noticed after I launch a game (a full screen game that utilizes Directx - like Battlefield or League of Legends), my screensaver stops working. To troubleshoot it, I ended all processes, removed all USB devices, etc, and STILL the same problem (I do not have a wireless mouse - before anyone asks).

So.... I found this program called "Turn off monitor". As part of the program it has an idle timer that shows how long your computer has been idle. I noticed that every 30 seconds my idle timer resets (when my screensaver is not working). Sometimes it is every 10 seconds. Is there a program out there that can tell me EXACTLY what is resetting that idle timer (be it software or hardware causing it)??? This is getting EXTREMELY frustrating. 🙁

 

[Milkman00]

I finally found the problem and wanted to post it here for others.

My problem was the Google Voice plugin for Google Chrome.

Here are the steps I took to identify:

- Set Screensaver to one minute.
- Download and install "Process Monitor" -> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
- Download and install "Turn off Monitor" -> http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-6783-turn-off-monitor
- Right click the "Turn off Monitor" icon on the desktop and go to "Turn off Monitor after...". When you do that, there will be a little clock that tells you how long your system has been idle for. Mine kept resetting with no mouse/keyboard activity.
- Start Process Monitor
- Bring up your clock, so you can see your system time to the SECOND.
- Start Process Monitor
- Watch the Turn off Monitor clock, and when the idle time resets note the time to the second.
- Examine Process Manager for that timeframe, and see what was running, and start doing a process of elimination. Repeat to see if you found the culprit.

My problem was with GoogleTalkPlugin.exe. Here is the thread that told me how to solve this known problem:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/chrome/2wa--0aokjc

Basically I followed the Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooting part of the fixit program to finally get to a place that I could properly uninstall Google Talk (referred to as Google Voice in that thread), and then went to Google to reinstall it.