Screen Saver will not start in Windows XP

the culprit is most likely some software on the system. could be some type of idle monitor or support software or something else that is causing it. i know windows media player can cause that problem, also.

Can you get the screensaver to preview when you're changing the settings? Is the screensaver a windows default or a custom one?

If it is custom, there may be problems with the video card's capabilities, I've seen screensavers that use OpenGL software that many video cards cant manage. If you can see the preview of the screensaver then I'd say its most likely something wrong with the time settings as to when it turns on, maybe you have your monitor ecosave settings to turn the monitor off before the screensaver turns on?

Most of the XP distributors have sign an agreement with Microsoft to support the specially developed software to correct the problem with screen savers in Media Center Eddition - Windows XP. Here is what it worked for me.
Go to RUN
Type msconfig and press O.K.
Select STARTUP
Find ehtray and un-check this option.
Select APPLY
Hope this help.

i like a little program called nircmd that lets you kick off some system events from the command line... so you could run "nircmd screensaver" and it would force the screensaver to run NOW. that would just be a sanity check to see if the screensaver is actually working and not the problem.... you can get that gem of an app from www.nirsoft.net along with a ton of other very handy tools.

jim