Mouse cursor sometimes becomes invisible

[Stephen Eisenhauer]

(This report is incomplete; I need some guidance regarding steps I can take the next time this happens so I can gather better information to report.)

What happens:

1. I'll be working
2. The mouse cursor will become invisible for no apparent reason, typically on just one of my two monitors
3. I'll either continue working (in which case the cursor will usually come back for no apparent reason, eventually) or I'll restart X to get my cursor back

This happens to me at least once a week while I'm working, and has gone on at least for 2 or 3 months if not longer. I think I first began observing this while on Ubuntu 15.04, and it has persisted since upgrading to 15.10 in October.

There are things I try in order to force the cursor to reappear, to no avail, including:

- Toggling org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor active via gsettings
- Switching to and from a TTY
- Hovering over UI elements that force the cursor icon to change

I think changing the resolution via xrandr causes it to reappear, but I need to wait until the next time it happens to confirm this. EDIT: Confirmed that changing resolution to something else and back using xrandr DOES help.

I use a ThinkPad with an i7 with only integrated Intel graphics, connected via dock to an external display. My display configuration is a little unusual and uses hidpi, defined by the following commands:

xrandr --output eDP1 --mode 2880x1620 --panning 2880x1620 --scale 1x1 --primary --dpi 250
xrandr --output DP2-1 --mode 2560x1440 --panning 3840x2160+2880+0 --scale 1.5x1.5 --dpi 144

-----------

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: xorg 1:7.7+7ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-18.22-generic 4.2.3
Uname: Linux 4.2.0-18-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.19.1-0ubuntu5
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Dec 14 13:49:18 2015
DistUpgraded: 2015-11-03 14:44:11,845 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: wily
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 vboxhost, 5.0.4, 3.19.0-31-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 5.0.4, 4.2.0-16-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 5.0.4, 4.2.0-18-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 5.0.4, 4.2.0-19-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0416] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2210]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-06-24 (538 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140416.2)
MachineType: LENOVO 20BECTO1WW
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.2.0-18-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=022a17a0-1dc9-4b5c-ad86-912739c13a73 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to wily on 2015-11-03 (40 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 03/19/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: GMET62WW (2.10 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20BECTO1WW
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0E50512 Std
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGMET62WW(2.10):bd03/19/2014:svnLENOVO:pn20BECTO1WW:pvrThinkPadT540p:rvnLENOVO:rn20BECTO1WW:rvrSDK0E50512Std:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 20BECTO1WW
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T540p
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+15.10.20151015-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.64-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.0.2-1ubuntu4
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.0.2-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.17.2-1ubuntu9.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.2-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.5.0+git20150819-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20150808-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.11-1ubuntu3
xserver.bootTime: Fri Dec 11 17:18:06 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 10147
 vendor ACI
xserver.version: 2:1.17.2-1ubuntu9.1

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Stephen Eisenhauer, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better.

As per http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/Laptops-and-netbooks/ThinkPad-T-Series-laptops/ThinkPad-T540p? an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (2.19). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't have to create a new bug report.

Once the BIOS is updated, if the problem is still reproducible:
1) Please provide the output of the following terminal command (not perform an apport-collect):
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
2) Please make a comment specifically advising on if there was an improvement or not.
3) Please mark this report Status New. If it's not reproducible, please mark this as Invalid.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Stephen Eisenhauer (bhspitmonkey)]

Could you share a little technical background on how the BIOS could affect what seems to be a problem manifested either in X or the Intel display driver? I'm not saying it couldn't play a role, but it seems extremely likely that the problem lies in one of those places.

I've been unsuccessful so far in attempts to update the BIOS, as Lenovo makes this process somewhat more difficult for users without Windows.

The problem happened again today; While moving the cursor from monitor to another, it disappeared, and now it is only drawn on the external display. I can still hover/select/click things on the primary display, but the cursor is not drawn graphically. I would still greatly appreciate any suggestions for things that I can do when this does happen which would help narrow down what is happening and lead me closer to a repro.

[Stephen Eisenhauer (bhspitmonkey)]

Changing the resolution with xrandr has not been successful in bringing the cursor back recently, but attempting to switch to another user (and then returning to the original session) DOES cause the cursor to reappear. This at least gives me a workaround (and hopefully hints at a fix).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xorg (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]