Vista "My Pictures" screensaver freezes

[Guest]

I recently (within the last month) purchased a Dell Inspiron 531 desktop
running Vista home basic. I have not installed any programs, games, etc.
My computer randomly "freezes up" when the screensaver is running. A
picture will remain on the monitor indefinitely, with all the keys
unresponsive. I must turn the computer off when it happens, with the
resultant "Improper shutdown" warnings upon restart. It seems to be
completely random, as to when it occurs (or not) and what picture is
displayed when it happens. Lately, it seems to be happening at least once a
day. It has become intolerable, especially since my old computer, running
Windows ME, never had this occur. My computer has the auto update enabled,
and indicates that there are no new updates available. Could anyone tell me
what might be the cause of this problem? Thanks.

 

[Cal Bear '66]

This can happen if you have videos in the folder you are using for the Pictures
screensaver. Remove any videos from the folder to see if that solves the
problem.


I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!

 

[Guest]

Excellent! Thanks so much Cal Bear. Sure enough, I did find a few movies
that got moved in with the pics when I transferred them to my new computer.
The fact that there was only a few movies amongst the hundreds of pics
perfectly explains the random nature of this frustrating hang-up. I have
moved them out, and now have my fingers crossed that I won't see this problem
again. Thanks again!

 

[Cal Bear '66]

You're very welcome.

I'm glad this sorted out your problem.


I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!

 

[Guest]

Next day update--still freezing up. I reposted the problem.

 

[Guest]

I have the same problem on a recently purchased HP Pavilion dv6000z laptop w/
• 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7200

I see two spec's online for a Dell Inspiron 531, and both come with some
NVIDIA GeForce card, e.g.
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU

I wonder if NVIDIA knows anything about this problem?


What video card

 

[Guest]

i have the exact same problem and inspiron 531 with home basic.spoken to dell
support and they said problem with my logitech mouse driver.upgraded .did not
help!!!i also have no videos in my photo slide screensaver.i think an issue
dell still working on.their support live now is very good!!but some issues do
not seem to have resolved until new update they told me in jan.if you turn
off the screensaver.no problem.never freezes!!!l never an issue with my old
xp!!!!

 

[Guest]

I switched from "random" to "pan and zoom" style - I think it normally locks
up for me on black/white, or one of the fading scenarios. Maybe if I stick
with pan/zoom it will be okay?

 

[SF]

Epictetus,

I have the exact same problem on my new Dell computer with Vista. Saying it
is frustrating is an understatement. One thing that might help, is when the
screen is frozen, hit Ctrl + Alt + Delete instead of shutting down the
computer (then just hit cancel when the menu comes up). That prevents you
from incorrectly shutting down your computer too often.