No sleep/hibernate modes
 

First, I want to say hello to all of you here!

Guys I have a problem that makes me very disappointed for many years.
It is that my favorite screen saver does not allow my PC to either turn off the monitor, or hibernate itself.

When I set the Marine Aquarium screen saver it does not allow my PC to power off the monitor and then to hibernate after the timeout I specified when aquarium is running. As I only choose any of the Microsoft standard screensavers the PC does switch off the monitor after 20 minutes and then hibernates after 45 as I selected.

As for the drivers and sleep time. I have already got the latest drivers for my video card and I have always used 45 minutes for sleep (hibernate) time. Please note that my PC is able to either turn off the monitor and to hibernate itself but only not when any of your screensavers are running...

Once again this is the problem:
1) I choose any Microsoft screensaver that is Windows built-in and my PC
first turns off the monitor (15 min) and then hibernates (45 min);
2) I choose any your screensaver (Marine Aquarium, Goldfish, or even
Sharks) and my PC does not turn off the monitor (15 min) and does not
hibernates (45 min);
3) Again I choose any Microsoft screensaver that is Windows built-in and
my PC first turns off the monitor (15 min) and then hibernates (45 min)

And so on.

Please note, I do NO changes to ANY settings between the first two
steps. So If I set Windows' screensavers back again then my PC again is
able to hibernate.
That eliminates my PC as a problem and that tells us that the problem is
the SereneScreen Aquarium. (sorry I don't want to hurt you).

Please also note that I have two notebooks and another PC at my home and
this behavior is 100% the same on all four different type and years
machines (one of them is using Windows XP SP3)! More over I have this
problem for many years already with your screensavers as I wrote before.
Just thought that perhaps somebody could solve it finally.

I looked in the Internet that there is such problem with the Windows
when it uses Direct 3D screensavers (the PC is unable to hibernate
because the CPU is not idling but is seriously loaded). If I remember
the API does not allow to hibernate in such case. But that is the
problem of Windows XP and I couldn't find the solution for Windows 7.
Perhaps you could find the solution of this problem...

This problem was present very long ago in Windows XP and then I have done about three or four upgrades to my PC, so currently its a very modern machine running Windows 7 but the problem is still the same! Please let me if there is any solution for this? And I should tell you that I have never obtained your screen saver (running demo) because of this. I really need my PC to be able to hibernate itself automatically!

Currently I am using the latest screensaver vesrion: W201.3.2 6025

A couple of questions -

Is MA3 coming up automatically as a screensaver, or are you launching it manually?
If it's coming up automatically, are you absolutely sure that it's the latest version that is running (look at the version number in the About box).

Regarding DirectX programs using up all the clock cycles - that can sometimes be true, but if MA3 is set to 'Limit Frame Rate', then it usually uses less than 10% of the CPU time.

I just tried setting MA3 to come on as a screensaver after 1 minute, and the monitor to shut down at 2 minutes. It worked perfectly. (Using Win 7).

There are different places to change your power settings. Check your "advanced power settings" and the ones that are "currently unavailable." Something might be in conflict.

Thanks a lot for your reply guys!

Jim, yes I am sure I have the latest version. I have wrote it here from my About box and its W207.3.2.6025. If there is no newer yet...

I am not launching it manually. It turns on automatically after 5 minutes and when it was launched automatically and is running then my PC does not turn off the monitor automatically and does not hibernate automatically!

I tried to enable the Vsync but it still does not hibernate.

What about hibernation? Is your PC able to hibernate automatically when Aquarium is running?

patscarr, I have checked that for hundreds of times. Everything is fine there! I will say once again:

If I just set another screensaver to turn on automatically my hibernate mode starts working AUTOMATICALLY (because manually I can do that even when Aquarium is set) without any other settings!
So, that tells us that RUNNING Aquarium does not allow to hibernate...

Jim, my apologies to you! I thought I have checked that with Vsync on, but it turns out that I haven't.

I have turned on the Vsync and it started to turn off my monitor but it still does not allow my PC to sleep automatically after monitor turned off!

patscarr, no conflicts, everything is fine there. As I only choose another screensaver everything works and I do no any other changes to settings...

P.S.

I have tried it on my PC now and it really helped me! If you turn on the Vsync in the Aquarium settings then your PC is able to both turn off the monitor and to enter sleep mode automatically.
Perhaps its because that frames limit makes the CPU to load just a little (about 10% only).
Please note that my notebook still refuses to enter sleep mode (only monitor turns off) even with the Vsync on.

But I have another annoying thing.

Why does the mouse pointer shade is always set to off when exiting Aquarium? I always have to enter mouse settings and switch it back on again...
Thanks for your help!

Where did you get this trial version of MA3?

And are you sure you have the latest version? The version number you posted is not very much like the version that I am using.

I don't remember exactly, but I suppose it was their official website, however it maybe any other website... The newest version should be on the official website.