Strange Screen Saver problem. Can anyone help?

I encountered an odd problem when I upgraded to 10.5.7 recently.

I have 2 displays connected to my Mac Pro and usually have the Screen Saver
set to an iPhoto (08) album so that the pictures in the album are displayed
in turn on the two screens with a nice Ken Burns effect.

After upgrading to 10.5.7 the pictures would only display on one of the
screens, the second screen showing "Looking for pictures...". The system log
just reports "Screen saver engine cannot find media" or something like that.
This only happens when the Screen Saver is set to an iPhoto album. If it is
set to an ordinary finder folder it will display the pictures as normal.

I've reverted to 10.5.6 now but I'm a bit concerned that this is a bug that
Apple are not aware of since it's not something that would routinely show up
at all. Could anyone tell me if the same thing happens with iPhoto 09? If not
I could just upgrade iPhoto and have done with it

At the very least I would like to know to whom or how I should report it to
Apple so that some notice might be taken. (The help section "Reporting
problems to Apple" seems to imply that you should fill in a 'Crash Report'
when an Application crashes, which hasn't happened of course)


--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:

> I encountered an odd problem when I upgraded to 10.5.7 recently.
>
> I have 2 displays connected to my Mac Pro and usually have the Screen Saver
> set to an iPhoto (08) album so that the pictures in the album are displayed
> in turn on the two screens with a nice Ken Burns effect.
>
> After upgrading to 10.5.7 the pictures would only display on one of the
> screens, the second screen showing "Looking for pictures...". The system log
> just reports "Screen saver engine cannot find media" or something like that.
> This only happens when the Screen Saver is set to an iPhoto album. If it is
> set to an ordinary finder folder it will display the pictures as normal.
>
> I've reverted to 10.5.6 now but I'm a bit concerned that this is a bug that
> Apple are not aware of since it's not something that would routinely show up
> at all. Could anyone tell me if the same thing happens with iPhoto 09? If not

> I could just upgrade iPhoto and have done with it
>
> At the very least I would like to know to whom or how I should report it to
> Apple so that some notice might be taken. (The help section "Reporting
> problems to Apple" seems to imply that you should fill in a 'Crash Report'
> when an Application crashes, which hasn't happened of course)

I take it that's a 'no' then :-(

Could someone at least let me know what is an effective way of letting Apple
know about this about this problem? I somehow doubt that a simple email would
even be read, let alone acted upon. Please?

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

In article <. com>,
Mike Lane <> wrote:

> Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
>
> > I encountered an odd problem when I upgraded to 10.5.7 recently.
> >
> > I have 2 displays connected to my Mac Pro and usually have the Screen Saver
> > set to an iPhoto (08) album so that the pictures in the album are displayed
> > in turn on the two screens with a nice Ken Burns effect.
> >
> > After upgrading to 10.5.7 the pictures would only display on one of the
> > screens, the second screen showing "Looking for pictures...". The system
> > log
> > just reports "Screen saver engine cannot find media" or something like
> > that.
> > This only happens when the Screen Saver is set to an iPhoto album. If it is
> > set to an ordinary finder folder it will display the pictures as normal.
> >
> > I've reverted to 10.5.6 now but I'm a bit concerned that this is a bug that
> > Apple are not aware of since it's not something that would routinely show
> > up
> > at all. Could anyone tell me if the same thing happens with iPhoto 09? If
> > not
>
> > I could just upgrade iPhoto and have done with it
> >
> > At the very least I would like to know to whom or how I should report it to
> > Apple so that some notice might be taken. (The help section "Reporting
> > problems to Apple" seems to imply that you should fill in a 'Crash Report'
> > when an Application crashes, which hasn't happened of course)
>
> I take it that's a 'no' then :-(
>
> Could someone at least let me know what is an effective way of letting Apple
> know about this about this problem? I somehow doubt that a simple email would
> even be read, let alone acted upon. Please?

Your doubt is unfounded. Apple doesn't have people skimming Usenet and
web forums, but they do take direct correspondence seriously.

<http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html>

I *might* have access to a dual-screen setup with iLife '08 on it; I'll
see if I can reproduce it. It would help if you can give precise
messages and behavior rather than saying "or something like that." It
might also be interesting to look at the log files visible from
/Applications/Utilities/Console.app to see if any useful info is there.

--
I saw a truck today that had "AAA Batteries / Delivered and Installed" on the
side. My first thought was: That's a really weird business model. How many
inept people have urgent need of skinny little battery cells?

Mike Lane <> wrote:

> Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
>
> > I encountered an odd problem when I upgraded to 10.5.7 recently.
> >
> > I have 2 displays connected to my Mac Pro and usually have the Screen Saver
> > set to an iPhoto (08) album so that the pictures in the album are displayed
> > in turn on the two screens with a nice Ken Burns effect.
> >
> > After upgrading to 10.5.7 the pictures would only display on one of the
> > screens, the second screen showing "Looking for pictures...". The system log
> > just reports "Screen saver engine cannot find media" or something like that.
> > This only happens when the Screen Saver is set to an iPhoto album. If it is
> > set to an ordinary finder folder it will display the pictures as normal.
> >
> > I've reverted to 10.5.6 now but I'm a bit concerned that this is a bug
> > that Apple are not aware of since it's not something that would
> > routinely show up at all. Could anyone tell me if the same thing happens
> > with iPhoto 09? If not
>
> > I could just upgrade iPhoto and have done with it
> >
> > At the very least I would like to know to whom or how I should report it to
> > Apple so that some notice might be taken. (The help section "Reporting
> > problems to Apple" seems to imply that you should fill in a 'Crash Report'
> > when an Application crashes, which hasn't happened of course)
>
> I take it that's a 'no' then :-(

For what its worth, screen saver from an iPhoto '09 album or event in
10.5.7 on multiple displays seems to work fine on my MacBook Pro.

This suggests the problem may be limited to the combination of 10.5.7
and iPhoto '08.

I don't have iLife '08 installed any more on any machines running
Leopard so I can't test your combination.

Have you installed the latest iLife Support update? Even though it
claims to be for iLife '09, it may be useful to the '08 version. I've
seen it offered by Software Update on computers which don't have iLife
'09 installed.

> Could someone at least let me know what is an effective way of letting Apple
> know about this about this problem? I somehow doubt that a simple email would
> even be read, let alone acted upon. Please?

If you register as a developer (free for online membership of the
developer programme), you can access Apple's Bug Reporter. This is quite
handy because you will eventually get some response from Apple about the
problem, even if it is just "duplicate of a known issue".

http://developer.apple.com
http://bugreport.apple.com


--
David Empson

In article <1j11iiq.xerubm198c0xxN%>,
(David Empson) wrote:

> Mike Lane <> wrote:
>
> > Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
> >
> > > I encountered an odd problem when I upgraded to 10.5.7 recently.
> > >
> > > I have 2 displays connected to my Mac Pro and usually have the Screen
> > > Saver
> > > set to an iPhoto (08) album so that the pictures in the album are
> > > displayed
> > > in turn on the two screens with a nice Ken Burns effect.
> > >
> > > After upgrading to 10.5.7 the pictures would only display on one of the
> > > screens, the second screen showing "Looking for pictures...". The system
> > > log
> > > just reports "Screen saver engine cannot find media" or something like
> > > that.
> > > This only happens when the Screen Saver is set to an iPhoto album. If it
> > > is
> > > set to an ordinary finder folder it will display the pictures as normal.
> > >
> > > I've reverted to 10.5.6 now but I'm a bit concerned that this is a bug
> > > that Apple are not aware of since it's not something that would
> > > routinely show up at all. Could anyone tell me if the same thing happens
> > > with iPhoto 09? If not
> >
> > > I could just upgrade iPhoto and have done with it
> > >
> > > At the very least I would like to know to whom or how I should report it
> > > to
> > > Apple so that some notice might be taken. (The help section "Reporting
> > > problems to Apple" seems to imply that you should fill in a 'Crash
> > > Report'
> > > when an Application crashes, which hasn't happened of course)
> >
> > I take it that's a 'no' then :-(
>
> For what its worth, screen saver from an iPhoto '09 album or event in
> 10.5.7 on multiple displays seems to work fine on my MacBook Pro.
>
> This suggests the problem may be limited to the combination of 10.5.7
> and iPhoto '08.

More limited than that. I did just get a chance to try it. This is a 15"
MBP running 10.5.7 and iPhoto 7.1.5 (which is the latest update to the
iPhoto that came with iLife '08). The second screen is one of Apple's
widescreen LCDs. It worked fine. Both screens briefly displayed the
"Looking" message and then each began showing different random images
from iPhoto with the slow zoom.

G

--
I saw a truck today that had "AAA Batteries / Delivered and Installed" on the
side. My first thought was: That's a really weird business model. How many
inept people have urgent need of skinny little battery cells?

Gregory Weston wrote on Jun 9, 2009:

> In article <1j11iiq.xerubm198c0xxN%>,
> (David Empson) wrote:
>
>> Mike Lane <> wrote:
>>
>>> Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
>>>
[OP snipped]
>>
>> For what its worth, screen saver from an iPhoto '09 album or event in
>> 10.5.7 on multiple displays seems to work fine on my MacBook Pro.
>>
>> This suggests the problem may be limited to the combination of 10.5.7
>> and iPhoto '08.
>
> More limited than that. I did just get a chance to try it. This is a 15"
> MBP running 10.5.7 and iPhoto 7.1.5 (which is the latest update to the
> iPhoto that came with iLife '08). The second screen is one of Apple's
> widescreen LCDs. It worked fine. Both screens briefly displayed the
> "Looking" message and then each began showing different random images
> from iPhoto with the slow zoom.
>
> G

Thanks Gregory, David for both these pieces of information.

However... There's a further complication that I didn't realize when I made
the OP: if I check the Screen Saver by clicking on the "Test" button,
everything works as it should i.e. the iPhoto pictures are correctly
displayed on both screens. (I suspect that most people would check using this
first). The problem only shows when the Screen Saver comes on automatically
with a timeout - or more conveniently if I start it using a "Hot Corner" as
set with the button on the Screen Saver preferences page.

I'd be most grateful if you could check if that is the case with your setup.

Just to recap the problem: with OS 10.5.7 and iPhoto 7.1.5, I only get the
Screen Saver displaying on one screen. (This only occurs when the SS times
out, not when using the 'Test' button)

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

Mike Lane <> wrote:

> Gregory Weston wrote on Jun 9, 2009:
>
> > In article <1j11iiq.xerubm198c0xxN%>,
> > (David Empson) wrote:
> >
> >> Mike Lane <> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
> >>>
> [OP snipped]
> >>
> >> For what its worth, screen saver from an iPhoto '09 album or event in
> >> 10.5.7 on multiple displays seems to work fine on my MacBook Pro.
> >>
> >> This suggests the problem may be limited to the combination of 10.5.7
> >> and iPhoto '08.
> >
> > More limited than that. I did just get a chance to try it. This is a 15"
> > MBP running 10.5.7 and iPhoto 7.1.5 (which is the latest update to the
> > iPhoto that came with iLife '08). The second screen is one of Apple's
> > widescreen LCDs. It worked fine. Both screens briefly displayed the
> > "Looking" message and then each began showing different random images
> > from iPhoto with the slow zoom.
>
> Thanks Gregory, David for both these pieces of information.
>
> However... There's a further complication that I didn't realize when I made
> the OP: if I check the Screen Saver by clicking on the "Test" button,
> everything works as it should i.e. the iPhoto pictures are correctly
> displayed on both screens. (I suspect that most people would check using this
> first). The problem only shows when the Screen Saver comes on automatically
> with a timeout - or more conveniently if I start it using a "Hot Corner" as
> set with the button on the Screen Saver preferences page.
>
> I'd be most grateful if you could check if that is the case with your setup.

I tested mine with a hot corner, not using the Test button. It behaved
correctly (independent photos on both displays, with Ken Burns effect).
I'll try again with a short timeout while getting a cup of tea...

Yep, that worked fine too.

> Just to recap the problem: with OS 10.5.7 and iPhoto 7.1.5, I only get the
> Screen Saver displaying on one screen. (This only occurs when the SS times
> out, not when using the 'Test' button)

iPhoto 8.0.3 here.

--
David Empson

Gregory Weston wrote on Jun 9, 2009:

> In article <. com>,
> Mike Lane <> wrote:
>
>> Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
>>
>>> I encountered an odd problem when I upgraded to 10.5.7 recently.
>>>
>>> I have 2 displays connected to my Mac Pro and usually have the Screen
>>> Saver
>>> set to an iPhoto (08) album so that the pictures in the album are
>>> displayed
>>> in turn on the two screens with a nice Ken Burns effect.
>>>
>>> After upgrading to 10.5.7 the pictures would only display on one of the
>>> screens, the second screen showing "Looking for pictures...". The system
>>> log
>>> just reports "Screen saver engine cannot find media" or something like
>>> that.
>>> This only happens when the Screen Saver is set to an iPhoto album. If it
>>> is
>>> set to an ordinary finder folder it will display the pictures as normal.
>>>
>>> I've reverted to 10.5.6 now but I'm a bit concerned that this is a bug
>>> that
>>> Apple are not aware of since it's not something that would routinely show
>>> up
>>> at all. Could anyone tell me if the same thing happens with iPhoto 09? If
>>> not
>>
>>> I could just upgrade iPhoto and have done with it
>>>
>>> At the very least I would like to know to whom or how I should report it
>>> to
>>> Apple so that some notice might be taken. (The help section "Reporting
>>> problems to Apple" seems to imply that you should fill in a 'Crash Report'
>>> when an Application crashes, which hasn't happened of course)
>>
>> I take it that's a 'no' then :-(
>>
>> Could someone at least let me know what is an effective way of letting
>> Apple
>> know about this about this problem? I somehow doubt that a simple email
>> would
>> even be read, let alone acted upon. Please?
>
> Your doubt is unfounded. Apple doesn't have people skimming Usenet and
> web forums, but they do take direct correspondence seriously.
>
> <http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html>

Thanks for this (Now why couldn't I find that page?)

>
> I *might* have access to a dual-screen setup with iLife '08 on it; I'll
> see if I can reproduce it. It would help if you can give precise
> messages and behavior rather than saying "or something like that."

OK point taken, (it's just a bit tedious swapping between OS versions while
posting to usenet). The exact message is:

9-6-2009 11:36:56 ScreenSaverEngine[165] Couldn't find media group xxxx

(xxxx being the name of the iPhoto Album selected in Screen Saver preferences
> It might also be interesting to look at the log files visible from
> /Applications/Utilities/Console.app to see if any useful info is there.
>
Yes, that's where I found the above message. I can't find anything else that
seems at all relevant to the Screen Saver or to iPhoto


--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

David Empson wrote on Jun 9, 2009:

> iPhoto 8.0.3 here.

Is this the version that comes with iLife '09?

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

In article <. com>,
Mike Lane <> wrote:

> Gregory Weston wrote on Jun 9, 2009:
>
> > In article <1j11iiq.xerubm198c0xxN%>,
> > (David Empson) wrote:
> >
> >> Mike Lane <> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Mike Lane wrote on Jun 3, 2009:
> >>>
> [OP snipped]
> >>
> >> For what its worth, screen saver from an iPhoto '09 album or event in
> >> 10.5.7 on multiple displays seems to work fine on my MacBook Pro.
> >>
> >> This suggests the problem may be limited to the combination of 10.5.7
> >> and iPhoto '08.
> >
> > More limited than that. I did just get a chance to try it. This is a 15"
> > MBP running 10.5.7 and iPhoto 7.1.5 (which is the latest update to the
> > iPhoto that came with iLife '08). The second screen is one of Apple's
> > widescreen LCDs. It worked fine. Both screens briefly displayed the
> > "Looking" message and then each began showing different random images
> > from iPhoto with the slow zoom.
> >
> > G
>
> Thanks Gregory, David for both these pieces of information.
>
> However... There's a further complication that I didn't realize when I made
> the OP: if I check the Screen Saver by clicking on the "Test" button,
> everything works as it should i.e. the iPhoto pictures are correctly
> displayed on both screens. (I suspect that most people would check using this
> first). The problem only shows when the Screen Saver comes on automatically
> with a timeout - or more conveniently if I start it using a "Hot Corner" as
> set with the button on the Screen Saver preferences page.
>
> I'd be most grateful if you could check if that is the case with your setup.

Will-do. Out of curiosity, does hot-corner activation show the problem
too, or is it *really* just time-based?

--
I saw a truck today that had "AAA Batteries / Delivered and Installed" on the
side. My first thought was: That's a really weird business model. How many
inept people have urgent need of skinny little battery cells?