The following error was encountered when clicking on the "try" button in the Gnome Control Panel Screen Saver Settings (the action obviously did not work): AUDIT: Mon Mar 22 21:56:48 1999: 1322 Xwrapper: client 14 rejected from local host Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server xscreensaver: Can't open display: :0 xscreensaver: initial effective uid/gid was root/root (0/0) xscreensaver: running as nobody/nobody (99/99) xscreensaver: Errors at startup are usually authorization problems. Did you read the manual? Specifically, the parts that talk about XAUTH, XDM, and root logins? http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/man.html
The above was displayed when switching back to the console virtual terminal that was running X.
It sounds like you are running the control center in an unusual manner - can you give instructions on how to reproduce this problem?
It "works for me", and no reply was received from the bug reporter within a Very Long Time, so I'm closing this.