Server Intermittently refuses to display local login window - screen saver

Question

Occasionally the local login window refuses to appear after the screen saver has been activated on my 10.5.8 Server, resulting in my inability to access the interface at all afterwards. Other symptoms of the problem are that remote logins (ssh) are also no longer possible because passwords aren't accepted for any user. The password prompt is simply displayed repeatedly in the remote user's terminal until the tries are used up, and this happens whether or not the password was entered correctly. In other words remote login is no longer possible because no password is accepted. Because of this, the computer must be forcibly restarted to achieve recovery, which has to be done locally, of course, by either holding in the power button or disconnecting power to the computer. The log entries that seem to coincide with the occurrence of the problem appear to refer to a screen saver crash. The next workaround solution I intend to try is to prevent screen saver activation altogether. What are possible causes for this? Thanks.

Answer 1

Removing the following two files and reinstalling the latest server combo update were recommended by the article to which you referred.
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preference.desktopscreeneffect.plist
I performed those steps and am still observing in order to establish whether or not they have provided a complete remedy. I haven't observed any occurrences of the problem since performing these steps, but the problem is quite intermittent, and the server remains configured to restart once every 24 hours. My next step is to remove the scheduled restart configuration so that the server runs continually. If the problem hasn't returned at all after a few weeks of continuous operation, then I'll consider the question answered. Thanks!