windows XP Pro screensavers wait resets to 999

is this on a domain or is it a home computer?

Domain, but no GP were made, and it only happens on one machine

have you tried a different screensaver to see if it still happens?

do you have any USB/firewire devices connected?

what type of computer (make/model)?

any wireless or IR devices?

it happens  with any screensaver.

i have some USB connected: mouse, keyboard, printer, USB HUB

computer is Dell D630 laptop with wireless and IR devices.

Do you use Remote Desktop on the D630 ever?  

I did a few times.

Okay, you may want to try setting the timeout in the registry then.  RDC has a tendency of resetting the default screensaver timeout back to 10 minutes (600 seconds).  if you go into regedit & drill down to the following location you can modify the time to whatever you want it to be (in seconds).

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop\ScreenSaveTimeOut

I also would set it in the below location just to make sure it 'sticks' to your Profile

HKEY_USERS\.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ScreenSaveTimeOut


If that doesn't work, I'm at a loss & would only be able to suggest looking into startup items, video manufacturer (i.e. Nvidia).

There are 2 places in Registry where the screensaver settings are located, one is the GPO policy setting, the other is the standard Windows registry.

I would use Sysinternals Regmon tool to detect what is changing the value ffor either location. You could also change the security permissions to block change.

HKEY_USERS\.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ScreenSaveTimeOut

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\DOMAIN{GUID}User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop\ScreenSaveTimeOut

i will try and update.

Why would Brainstormer get the credit when my response was the same & posted 8 minutes before?