Problem with the Sreen Saver in preferences

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Hi,

Something strange is going on, when I load my System Preferences pane and click on the desktop/Screensaver option, the panel loads but if i click on the Screen Saver tab, select a screensaver, it's not highlighted till I click the time slider. There is no preview, everything freezes, sometimes the "start screen saver text" next to the slider or the slider itself disappears, all buttons are dead and I have to close it by clicking Quit System Preferences from the main menu. Even tough this behaves strangely, I still get whatever screen saver I selected.

I tried everything I could think of and read on this forum but to no avail (repaired permissions, tried with a new user account, deleted the preferencepanes.cache and the screensavers plist files, etc.).

Also, if I click on the Desktop section first and change the background, everything works well till I click on the Screen Saver tab, it freezes and doesn't go into that part of the pane.

Any ideas?
Gemigene
:radioacti

iMac17, OS-X 10.4.9
 
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what screensaver are you using?...is it the iTunes album art one? that one has a known problem when you chose to have two rows. Or is it just any screensaver?
 
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gemigene
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what screensaver are you using?...is it the iTunes album art one? that one has a known problem when you chose to have two rows. Or is it just any screensaver?

I never used the iTunes art, I mostly use "Beach" or "Forest" and they do work even though the pane freezes up on me after selecting one. Strange, isn't it?

Even stranger yet is that when I open up the screen saver folders (user or system), there's nothing in them...

Gene
:(
 
M

MacHeadCase

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I tried to search for a screensaver pref file but it doesn't seem to exist.

Could you create a new user account and use that one and see if the problem persists in that account as well?

Let us know what are the results of this, please. :girl:
 
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gemigene
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I tried to search for a screensaver pref file but it doesn't seem to exist.

Could you create a new user account and use that one and see if the problem persists in that account as well?

Let us know what are the results of this, please. :girl:

Tried the new user account and got the same problem, it sure looks like it's a system wide glitch. Wonder if I can just restore that part of preferences, don't feel like reinstalling the OS only to access a working screen saver panel.

Thanks,
Gene
BTW, love your Avatar, Lilly Tomlin on Laugh-In, the good ol' days...
 
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MacHeadCase

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Ooh! Gemigene! You are truly a buddy of mine!
icon12.gif


You normally use Pacifist to install just one part that you need. Can you install it over an existing part? I really don't know what you can do...

I wouldn't want to tell you to do something and mess up your system royally. At first thought, I imagined you could maybe drag the System Preferences in the trash and reinstall the System Preferences from your install disks. But maybe that is hazardous to your Mac's health...
 
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gemigene
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Ooh! Gemigene! You are truly a buddy of mine!
icon12.gif

Also got a heck of a kick out of Arte Johnson....

You normally use Pacifist to install just one part that you need. Can you install it over an existing part? I really don't know what you can do...

I wouldn't want to tell you to do something and mess up your system royally. At first thought, I imagined you could maybe drag the System Preferences in the trash and reinstall the System Preferences from your install disks. But maybe that is hazardous to your Mac's health...

Thanks for the link, I'll sure have a look at it.

Merci et un gros Salut de Gatineau!
Gene

p.s. your avatar influenced me to the point of getting one too. LOL
 
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MacHeadCase

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Also got a heck of a kick out of Arte Johnson....



Thanks for the link, I'll sure have a look at it.

Merci et un gros Salut de Gatineau!
Gene

p.s. your avatar influenced me to the point of getting one too. LOL

Ben salut, toi!

Well with our avatars we can have a Laugh In party! Whee!

Ok well let us know how this went and if everything worked or not. Good luck!
 
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what screensaver are you using?...is it the iTunes album art one? that one has a known problem when you chose to have two rows. Or is it just any screensaver?

I have that problem how do I fix it?
 
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gemigene
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I have that problem how do I fix it?

Wish I could help you, I haven't found a solution to my problem and decided I didn't want to re-install OS-X just for that.

Cheers,
Gene
 
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MacHeadCase

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Hey gemigene!

When this started happening, do you recall if you installed any new software or added a new peripheral to your setup? Or did you install a third-party screensaver perhaps?

Oh and Bonne Saint-Jean in case we don't get to see each other again till then! :)
 
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gemigene
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Hey gemigene!

When this started happening, do you recall if you installed any new software or added a new peripheral to your setup? Or did you install a third-party screensaver perhaps?

Oh and Bonne Saint-Jean in case we don't get to see each other again till then! :)

Well Hi! Long time no chat...

If I remember correctly, 2 things happened on the same day, I installed a screensaver which didn't really work well so I deleted it and also installed an update from Apple. Mind you, I think it was that screensaver that screwed things up (or deleting it, I was a Mac newbie at the time).

And Bonne Saint-Jean à toi aussi, amuses-toi bien!

Salut,
Gene
 
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MacHeadCase

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Hmm. Did you try clearing the system cache? If you've never heard of it, use MainMenu. And clean out the System cache (Deep Clean).
 
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gemigene
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Hmm. Did you try clearing the system cache? If you've never heard of it, use MainMenu. And clean out the System cache (Deep Clean).

Hey, merci beaucoup.

Downloaded MainMenu and will give it a spin, looks like a better solution than MacJanitor.

Thanks again,
Gene
:)
 
M

MacHeadCase

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You, of course, can try the other scripts in there to clean and fix your OS install. Just so you know, once you restart (after cleaning out the cache you have to restart) the startup will feel slower to you than usual: no worries, it's simply the system rebuilding its cache from scratch.

Pas de problème! J'espère qu'on aura réglé ton problème une fois pour toutes! À bientôt, je l'espère! (Non, pas pour d'autres problèmes, juste pour que tu viennes nous visiter et avoir du fun avec la gang!) :D
 
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gemigene
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You, of course, can try the other scripts in there to clean and fix your OS install. Just so you know, once you restart (after cleaning out the cache you have to restart) the startup will feel slower to you than usual: no worries, it's simply the system rebuilding its cache from scratch.

Pas de problème! J'espère qu'on aura réglé ton problème une fois pour toutes! À bientôt, je l'espère! (Non, pas pour d'autres problèmes, juste pour que tu viennes nous visiter et avoir du fun avec la gang!) :D

MacJanitor was working well for a while but after a couple of OS updates, would hang and give error messages, so I stopped using it.

Hé, merci pour l'invitation, j'ignorais qu'il y a une "gang" qui sont ici pour s'amuser...

Gene
 
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MacHeadCase

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Bof! Tu sais, on cherche toujours du monde le fun pour un forum. Les niaiseux on peut s'en passer! :D

There is another freebie that works well and is from our cousins in France: OnyX by Matthieu Barrière. It has a few more features but if you're not sure what you are doing, it's best to stick with MainMenu.

Besides I use MainMenu, the added features in OnyX, I rarely use them. But I have both installed on my iMac.
 
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gemigene
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Bof! Tu sais, on cherche toujours du monde le fun pour un forum. Les niaiseux on peut s'en passer! :D

"Crisse", moi qui voulait partir un Forum pour les niaiseux... ("Les Tatais de l'Outaouais") ;D

There is another freebie that works well and is from our cousins in France: OnyX by Matthieu Barrière. It has a few more features but if you're not sure what you are doing, it's best to stick with MainMenu.

Besides I use MainMenu, the added features in OnyX, I rarely use them. But I have both installed on my iMac.

If MainMenu works well for you, guess that's the one I'll stick to. (ah, la confiance...). LOL

Cheers,
Gene
 
M

MacHeadCase

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AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ben tu m'diras, on sait jamais: Internet rend les distances super proches faque je pourrais aussi être une Tataise the l'Outaouais! Hihi!

I think that third-party screensaver messed up your system's built-in screensaver function. It would be so easy to trash a pref file, if only there was one!
 
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gemigene
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AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ben tu m'diras, on sait jamais: Internet rend les distances super proches faque je pourrais aussi être une Tataise the l'Outaouais! Hihi!

:D Ben, pourquoi pas? En passant, j'ai jeté un coup d'oeil sur tes photos, bravo!

I think that third-party screensaver messed up your system's built-in screensaver function. It would be so easy to trash a pref file, if only there was one!

I'll run MainMenu in a while and see if it takes care of the problem and if not, the heck with it. Don't feel like reloading the OS only to correct something I can live with. As I mentioned, I can choose a screensaver but after I do, that part of the preferences panel freezes on me...

Hasta luego,
Gene
 

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