unity and KDE mouse cursor disappear

[Jaime Pérez]

In unity and KDE I can't see my mouse pointer. I have read another bug and I have published some info there, but I think this is a new bug. I think is a compiz problem, because if I use metacity I don't have this problem with the desktop (only when I open steam and some other apps).

In UNITY it seems that compiz is drawing over the mouse, because I can see the pointer when I move it inside the terminal or in firefox but I can't see it when I try to interact with unity (click on icons or top right corner stuff). The thing is that if I run "sudo unity-tweak-tool --reset-unity", cursor reappear and I can use it normally, until I reboot. I have to run the comand with sudo, otherwise it doesn't work. The command give some errors I have posted in bug 1238410. I have tried switching off gnome's mouse plugin, but it doesn't work.

In KDE I can't see the cursor anyway.

I can't think where the problem may be. Perhaps I should run a "sudo dpkg-reconfigure compiz" or something like that?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-7.25-lowlatency
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-7-lowlatency x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.13.2-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Wed Feb 5 22:10:07 2014
DistUpgraded: 2014-01-27 12:12:23,747 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox, 4.3.2, 3.13.0-7-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox, 4.3.2, 3.13.0-7-lowlatency, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde XT [Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition] [1002:683d] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: PC Partner Limited / Sapphire Technology Device [174b:e244]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-01-17 (19 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: MSI MS-7640
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-7-lowlatency root=UUID=c33c2abb-8df7-49fa-8190-5f0d00f7c47b ro quiet ignore_loglevel
SourcePackage: compiz
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-01-27 (9 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 10/08/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: V19.9
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: 990FXA-GD65 (MS-7640)
dmi.board.vendor: MSI
dmi.board.version: 3.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: MSI
dmi.chassis.version: 3.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrV19.9:bd10/08/2012:svnMSI:pnMS-7640:pvr3.0:rvnMSI:rn990FXA-GD65(MS-7640):rvr3.0:cvnMSI:ct3:cvr3.0:
dmi.product.name: MS-7640
dmi.product.version: 3.0
dmi.sys.vendor: MSI
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu4
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.0.1-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.0.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.0-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.907-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Wed Feb 5 22:09:17 2014
xserver.configfile: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 7
 input Logitech USB Optical Mouse MOUSE, id 8
 input LITEON Technology USB Multimedia Keyboard KEYBOARD, id 9
 input LITEON Technology USB Multimedia Keyboard KEYBOARD, id 10
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.15.0-1ubuntu1
xserver.video_driver: radeon

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I get some errors trying to reconfigure compiz

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I'm running

"sudo apt-get purge compiz"
"sudo apt-get install compiz lightdm-remote-session-uccsconfigure ubuntu-desktop unity unity-tweak-tool"

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

That didn't work neither.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

When using metacicy I get the same error when opening some applications, such as Netbeans, KSysGuard... With Mozilla Firefox I don't get that problem.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

As I'm having this problem in Gnome Metacity, I don't know which is the package.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor active false

doesn't work

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

sudo apt-get purge kde*
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -a

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

Now I have ubuntu installed in virtualbox and everything seems to work properly.

[John Kim (kotux)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:

* Is this reproducible?
* If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?

This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I don't know if its reproducible. I only upgraded Ubuntu to 14.04 and installed KDE. I think that produced the error, but I'm not sure.

[Manuel Rivero (trikitrok)]

I'm experiencing the same problem.
I just did apt-get dist-upgrade and after rebooting and login the mouser cursor is gone...

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

which packs got upgraded?

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

if you execute "sudo unity-tweak-tool --reset-unity" does the cursor reappear?

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

If compiz or unity got upgraded, can you post the changelog?

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

The error appears when installing kubuntu packages.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

After doing "sudo apt-get purge kubuntu-*" I still have the problem. Help me, please.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

Steps to reproduce the problem:

"sudo apt-get install kubuntu-*"

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

Error appeared when installing this package

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

OK! I did "sudo apt-get purge unclutter" and "sudo apt-get autoremove" and problem is fixed. However, unclutter package has an issue.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I've read unclutter changelog and last change was made in May 2013, so perhaps the problem is not of this package. However it seems to me that the problem lays here.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

This worked for me

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I've reinstalled unclutter and problem is gone. I will try to find the problem.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

Some idea of which package may be causing the problem?

[Axel Beckert (xtaran)]

I don't think that's an issue with unclutter.

unclutter is only involved if the cursor vanishes after the mouse isn't moved for a few seconds or if a key is pressed.

But according to the original report, the mouse cursor isn't seen at all (at least over some windows) and according to #23 installing unclutter again doesn't bring the issue back.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

unclutter is not the problem, then

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "uninstall unclutter" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I've installed plasma-desktop package and the problem doesnt appear

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I didn't have the problem installing in virtualized ubuntu.

[vincenzo (mrguizzo)]

I have the same problem on the Kubuntu. Now I installed Ubuntu and anything was working but later I installed kde and now both gnome and kde have the problem of the pointer disappearing (expect in same area like the bar or some windows).
What is going on?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[BuggyDE (buggyde)]

This fixed it for me:

http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2014/04/reset-unity-and-compiz-settings-in-ubuntu-14-04/

It seems Kubuntu-Plasma changes something in the compiz settings. Once I reset compiz the mouse cursor came back.

[Jaime Pérez (jaime-91)]

I no longer have this problem, so I close the bug