Screensaver Does Not Work In Windows 10 with Dual Monitors

[hurricane51]

I've read pretty much all of the solutions offered up the the screensaver issues in Windows 10 [and the variety of issues indicates Microsoft has some work to do], but none of them seem to work for me.

I don't care about saving my monitor, or watching pretty pictures, or saving power. I need the screensaver for security reasons to lock the screen after an unattended time period. Apparently nobody else uses this feature, or if they do they haven't posted the problem on the web, or I simply haven't found it.

1. This is a clean install of Windows 10 Home. The dual monitors were installed AFTER the initial install, and the screensaver worked fine with that configuration. I'm now using an Nvidia Quadro NVS 295 graphics card with two identical Dell monitors. The latest driver is installed (dated Oct 2015).

2. I have no HID devices other than a wireless mouse and keyboard. I have tried a different mouse and keyboard to no effect. I have tried disabling the HID devices one by one to no avail.

3. If I disconnect one monitor at the computer, the screensaver still doesn't come on.

4. I have the screensaver set to "Blank", and the preview function works perfectly well, blanking both monitors.

I confess I have no further ideas to try, other than buying a new graphics card and seeing if that solves the problem. The fact that the preview function works dissuades me from thinking the problem lies with the card.

 

[Saltgrass]

I suppose you have checked the hardware requirements for your system and know it complies, such as up to two 30 inch monitors?

You are running Windows 10 10586/1511, the latest public release?

I don't run any Windows 10 multiple monitor systems, but I do have that capability if you think it would help you in making a decision.

 

[hurricane51]

The latest i5 CPU (i5-6600). Two 24" Dell monitors (new). Windows 1511 10586.63. 16GB RAM. The video card has 2 DisplayPorts.

The fact that Preview works leads me away from hardware.

 

[Saltgrass]

OK, I will try it then, it may take some time such as this afternoon before I know anything.

 

[Saltgrass]

I just tested my system and it seems to work fine with the Bubbles screen saver, although is gets a little crazy after 15-20 minutes of running.

Since I do not have your Video card or using Display port connections, the test may not even be valid. I have seen differences in Display Port connects vs. HDMI or DVI.

 

[hurricane51]

Thanks for the efforts. Here's my status.

I removed the Nvidia card and attached the monitors to the on-board ports (DVI and HDMI). Asus says it will support multiple monitors at the same time. I was able to determine that's true, but it will only work with a particular monitor as the primary. No amount of swapping cables and ports would overcome that. Since this is my first experience with multiple monitors I don't know if that's the way it works. I don't know how it can tell one monitor from the other, but apparently it can.

When only the primary monitor was connected, the screen saver worked fine. It didn't matter which interface I used -- with one monitor it worked. As soon as I connected the second monitor the screensaver failed to start. This is slightly different behavior from using the Nvidia card, but I can't be sure because I'm sure I didn't swap cables and ports around this much when I was using the same type interface.

 

[hurricane51]

UPDATE: I installed an older Sapphire Radeon card with DVI and HDMI ports (which surprisingly had Windows 10 drivers), and it behaved the same as the Nvidia card. I'll keep looking for solutions. If I find one I'll post it here.

 

[Saltgrass]

I have one system, the one tested, with two GTX 680s and one monitor and another system with two GTX 980s with three monitors.

A video card will pick up one display as primary depending on its connection. You can change that in the software. Normally you can use just the Nvidia control Panel to set up the multiple monitors and they may be recognized by model. You might also check the Windows display options to compare what is being shown with the configuration you have set up.

Do your two monitors work normally otherwise? Do you have them set to duplicate the original or extend the desktop across both?

 

[hurricane51]

I use them to extend the desktop, but I tried as duplicated monitors and the screensaver still failed to work. Other than the screensaver they work perfectly.

I know what you are saying about setting the primary display. I guess I didn't make myself clear. When I was connected to the on-board video using a DVI and an HDMI port, Windows would always select one particular monitor of the two identical Dells I have, regardless of the connection. That's what's weird. But it's also beside the point.

 

[Trouble]

OK.... you've experimented with, as far as I can determine, three different Video Cards...
An nVidia add on card
An ATI Radeon add on card
AND
The onboard integrated video GPU, whatever that might be.
All with the same results. It might be time to start thinking about some third party software that is causing the problem.
OR it might even be connected to some native component like the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service. Have a look in the services management console and disable it and see if that has any impact.
Some power settings regarding sharing media may impact the behavior.
Additionally you might want to try Clean booting the system to see if there might be some third party software causing the issue.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135
Use the steps for Windows 8 / 8.1 (same for 10)
Easily done and easily undone and definitely worth checking into.

I can say that I have two identical 23 inch, Dell monitors connect to an nVidia GPU GTX760, one with an HDMI cable and the other connected using the display port with a cable that converts display port interface on one end to HDMI on the other and the screen saver that I use (native windows 10 "blank", set for 20 minutes) works perfectly on Windows 10.

 

[clifford_cooley]

For reference, I have two 20 inch monitors connected by DVI to GTX 660. I am spanning across both monitors, but not in surround making them appear as one monitor. My motherboard doesn't support IGP, and I don't have a spare AMD card. I did setup the screensaver for potential help in this thread. I otherwise don't use a screensaver.

1. I opened screensaver settings
2. Changed the option to photos
3. Set the photos folder location
4. Set the time for 1 minute
5. Set on resume to require login
6. And then clicked to "Apply" settings

After 1 minute of inactivity photos were rotating on the primary. The secondary was blacked out. On resume I was prompted with the login screen. But since I don't use a password non was required. All I had to do was click login.

Now upon switching the screensaver type to from Photos to Bubbles, Mystify or Ribbons, the screensaver does span across both monitors.

So from my perspective there doesn't seem to be an issue.

 

[hurricane51]

Yeah, I tried that. FYI, I'm back to using the Nvidia Quadro. My current config is An ASUS motherboard with the Intel LGA 1151 chipset, Nvidia Quadro NVS 295 video card, and two Dell S2415H monitors. All of this is new. Hardware shouldn't be an issue, but then I can't figure out the issue.

I'm going to let this set a while -- maybe I'll come up with something down the line.

 

[hurricane51]

I've found the cause of my problem, but no fix. It's quite strange.

I have my system drive ("C:") on an SSD, and my data on a physically separate hard drive ("D:"). I wanted to replace my data drive, so I reassigned the drive letter to keep apps from locking any files. I then copied everything over to the new drive.

During the copy process, I was surprised to see that both monitors went into screen saver mode. I was hopeful that somehow the old drive was causing the problem, but no suck luck. After much troubleshooting I was positively able to link the problem to the drive letter assignment. If I use "D:" on a SATA drive (any SATA drive) the screen saver fails.

I cannot imagine how this can happen. Perhaps Windows keeps a log of drive letter assignments and that has somehow become corrupted? And how would that in any way affect the screen saver?

So, no fix but it feels like I'm making progress.

 

[hurricane51]

I've finally fixed it, but I'm not sure if I found the root cause because it makes no sense at all. I doubt anyone else will encounter this.

I decided to replace the data drive (D with another. I assigned the new drive D: and the old drive H: That (as expected from my efforts previously) returned the screensaver to working state.

I copied the folders a bunch at a time. When I got partly through, the screensaver stopped working. I backed up to the restore point I set before I started, but it didn't fix it. I don't know what happened, so I cleaned the new drive off and started again, this time with only a few folders at a time. It happened again, but this time I was able to narrow the range of folders to just a few. I cleaned the drive off again and started one folder at a time. It only took a few before I found the culprit. Nothing special about the contents -- only a few data files.

I put that folder aside and continued the copy, just a few at a time all the way through, stopping every so often to reboot just to make sure the screensaver survived a reboot. I finished the copy and the screensaver is now working.

To say I'm mystified would be an understatement. Why a few files in a folder should stop a screensaver from starting, and only after I had gone to a dual-monitor configuration, makes no sense. I have the feeling that the problem lies elsewhere, but I'm just happy it's fixed (for now).

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[lucky43113]

very simple fix go to screen saver settings select the option google photos screensaver then settings and click configure specific folders on my computer select the folder with the pics you want to use in it and your done

 

[hurricane51]

very simple fix go to screen saver settings select the option google photos screensaver then settings and click configure specific folders on my computer select the folder with the pics you want to use in it and your done

I'm pretty sure that would have been one of the first things I tried. Since I fixed it I haven't thought about it.

 

[lucky43113]

I'm pretty sure that would have been one of the first things I tried. Since I fixed it I haven't thought about it.

I just did it on my new pc thats how i knew it worked