Mouse pointer invisible after upgrade to Ubuntu 14.10 and 15.04

[luca]

After upgrading from Xubuntu 14.04 to 14.10, the mouse pointer became invisible AFTER the user session start. This is why it looks like an XFCE problem (although it might be another problem with Xorg or the graphics stack triggered by XFCE).

The mouse works perfectly in the login page, and when logging in with an user, it works fine when the XFCE logo is shown while starting the session, but afterwards, a graphics mode seems to change (I can see some activity in Xorg.log) and after that I can't see the mouse pointer anymore. The mouse works, the pointer is just invisible. I can even use it through VNC, I can see the VNC client showing the pointer perfectly too.

This is rendering my computer virtually unusable.

[luca (llucax)]

[ 4453.476] (II) XKB: reuse xkmfile /var/lib/xkb/server-A5431D4A34463C892C9E905E2E421B30A3CC30DD.xkm
[ 4456.343] (II) RADEON(0): EDID vendor "GSM", prod id 40182
[ 4456.343] (II) RADEON(0): Using EDID range info for horizontal sync
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Using EDID range info for vertical refresh
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0 64.12 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 769 773 795 +hsync +vsync (47.7 kHz eP)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1600x1200"x0.0 160.87 1600 1704 1880 2160 1200 1201 1205 1242 +hsync +vsync (74.5 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1280x720"x0.0 74.25 1280 1344 1472 1664 720 723 728 748 +hsync +vsync (44.6 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "720x480"x0.0 27.00 720 736 798 858 480 489 495 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1440x480i"x0.0 27.00 1440 1478 1602 1716 480 488 494 525 interlace -hsync -vsync (15.7 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1920x1080i"x0.0 74.25 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1094 1125 interlace +hsync +vsync (33.8 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x0.0 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync (37.9 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x0.0 36.00 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync (35.2 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x0.0 31.50 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -hsync -vsync (37.5 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x0.0 31.50 640 664 704 832 480 489 492 520 -hsync -vsync (37.9 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x0.0 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "720x400"x0.0 28.32 720 738 846 900 400 412 414 449 -hsync +vsync (31.5 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0 78.75 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync (60.0 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0 75.00 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (56.5 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (48.4 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x0.0 49.50 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync (46.9 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x0.0 50.00 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync (48.1 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1280x1024"x0.0 108.00 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync (64.0 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1400x1050"x0.0 101.00 1400 1448 1480 1560 1050 1053 1057 1080 +hsync -vsync (64.7 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1680x1050"x0.0 119.00 1680 1728 1760 1840 1050 1053 1059 1080 +hsync -vsync (64.7 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1280x960"x0.0 108.00 1280 1376 1488 1800 960 961 964 1000 +hsync +vsync (60.0 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1600x1200"x0.0 162.00 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync (75.0 kHz e)
[ 4456.344] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1440x24...

[luca (llucax)]

BTW, I just installed lxde and login in with lxde the mouse works fine too. So all points to XFCE :-/

[luca (llucax)]

Maybe related to https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=755050, at least the workaround there worked for me:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=755050

[Thaddaeus Tintenfisch (thad-fisch-deactivatedaccount)]

The linked Debian bug report is filed against gnome-settings-daemon. So, why is gnome-settings-daemon running in your case? It's usually not part of the Xubuntu or Xfce session.

[luca (llucax)]

I have no idea. All I know is I didn't install it explicitly, maybe it was installed as a dependency for another package?

[Thaddaeus Tintenfisch (thad-fisch-deactivatedaccount)]

We need to figure out why the daemon is started automatically on session start. Please clear the Xfce session cache (Settings Manager > Session and Startup > Session) and relog. Did it resolve the problem?

If no, try to remove the gnome-settings-daemon package. The package manager will tell you if this action will break any dependencies.

[luca (llucax)]

Clearing the session didn't help, I removed the gnome-settings-daemon package (only gnome-control-panel required it and I removed it too) and reverted the changes to dconf as mentioned in the debian issue and now it works OK. I don't know why gnome-settings-daemon was installed and much less why it was automatically run at session startup.

Thanks.

[luca (llucax)]

BTW, now that I don't have gnome-settings-daemon most non-xfce applications (in particular qt applications) looks very nasty :-/

[Thaddaeus Tintenfisch (thad-fisch-deactivatedaccount)]

Install qt4-qtconfig and configure the style setting (bug 1382741).

Other than that, we need to either close this report by changing its status to "invalid" or assign it to gnome-settings-daemon.

[luca (llucax)]

I just upgraded my laptop too, where I'm using gnome-session (+notion as a WM) and I had the same problem. So I guess this should be moved to gnome-settings-daemon, because it's definitely a problem when upgrading to Ubuntu 14.10.

[luca (llucax)]

Replacing gnome-setings-daemon with unity-settings-daemon seems to fix this too.

[luca (llucax)]

And also brings back function keys (brightness, volumen) that didn't work when using gnome-settiings-daemon.

[Stefan Witzel (s-witzel-o)]

Just as a remark: I had the same problem and even just killing the gnome-settings-daemon process made the mouse pointer reappear right away.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Victor Passapera (vpassapera)]

Still affects me on ubuntu gnome 14.10

[Cyprian Guerra (cyprian-guerra)]

Just to expand on the issue as an Ubuntu GNOME 14.10 user: the mouse pointer is invisible on login screen (GDM 3.14.1), in overview and when hovering over the top bar, left dock, "run" dialog (alt+F2), notifications, message try or any context menu / drop-down list these surfaces generate (GNOME Shell 3.14.3). It does, however, display correctly on desktop surface as well as in all other applications.

The property `active` of `gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor' is indeed set to `true` but setting it to `false` doesn't help (tried to reset, restart and finally reboot afterwards - all to no avail).

[sudodus (nio-wiklund)]

ISO testing:

This bug or a bug with similar symptoms is affecting Lubuntu Vivid beta 2 desktop i386

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1390628

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

A new bug report should be opened regarding ISO testing with vivid rather than using this one which is about upgrades from 14.04 to 14.10.

[swiged (swiged)]

Using Ubuntu GNOME 14.10 and after upgrading to Gnome 3.14 same behaviour as Cyprian Guerra (#17) described occured. The mouse pointer is only not visible on menu, messages (etc.), but is indeed visible in all applications and on desktop. If i understand Lubuntu ISO testing bug correct, the mouse pointer is not visible at all.

[Diego (gran-diego)]

Updated ubuntu 14.10 to 15.04 this morning, and I'm missing mouse pointer too. I'm using GNOME.

[zmilan (zivkovic-milan)]

I have same issue after upgrade 14.10 to 15.04 this morning. I cant see mouse pointer but mouse obvious working since I see when i go trough menus mouse hover state. I read this comments here and in my case killing gnome-session solve issue for that session. After rebooting issue is still here, but I can back mouse by killing session again... so I can work today until it will be fixed.

[Hudsonkem (hudsonkem)]

I have this issue too, In my case I don't have gnome-settings-daemon, but cursor be invisible sometimes on startup and I lost cursor theme too, but I heard that we go, ctrl+alt+f*, and return to gui(ctrl+alt+f7) mouse appear. using xubuntu 15.04.

[Mateo Salta (mateo-salta)]

Happened to me on Unity upgrade from 14.10 to 15.04. Happens unpredictably, have to restart and move mouse to make sure it is visible before logging in.

[Mateo Salta (mateo-salta)]

actually seems to be every time from cold boot - then I either need to restart or kill the session on login to get it back

[Ferdinand Prantl (prantlf)]

I can confirm it: upgraded from 14.04 to 14.10 - no problem. Then 14.10 to 15.04 and reboot. Mouse pointer not visible. Reboot and moving the mouse while logging in - mouse pointer appeared and stayed.

[Brian Menges (mengesb)]

I'm running on an Intel NUC NUC5i7RYH with boot disk as SM-951 NVMe (MZVPV512HDGL) and secondary disk Samsung Evo 850.

I fresh installed 14.04.3 LTS and experience this problem.

Solutions, such as the following, don't predictably work for me:
* exec unity-settings-daemon
* sudo gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor active false
* sudo modprobe -r psmouse ; sudo modprobe psmouse

I have the following packages installed related to what's mentioned in this bug:
ii gnome-settings-daemon 3.8.6.1-0ubuntu11.2 amd64 daemon handling the GNOME session settings
ii ubuntu-settings 14.04.5 all default settings for the Ubuntu desktop
ii unity-settings-daemon 14.04.0+14.04.20140606-0ubuntu3 amd64 daemon handling the Unity session settings

Recovering the mouse is employing one or all of the above (the gsettings often being what appears to work MOST times) after about a minute of login time, then logging out and moving the mouse - ensuring it appears before I log in. Of note, what I know works best, is waiting for a while, running one or all of the above commands, and then logging out and back in.

Every boot, 100% of the time, I have no visible mouse however something is tracking mouse movement as I can go between monitors and the login prompt moves between windows.

I'm using unity/gnome. Using gnome classic has not changed the results.

This is highly frustrating.

[Brian Menges (mengesb)]

I purged gnome-settings-daemon, which also purged gnome-control-center.

This is how I get my mouse back now:
1. Log in
2. Open terminal
3. sleep 85 && gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor active false
4. Log out
5. Verify mouse appears now (movement on login page)
6. Log in
7. Problem resolved

[Brian Menges (mengesb)]

Here's my package listing

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[markodd (markodd)]

I'm using Xubuntu 14.04 64bit and I also have an invisible mouse pointer. I did not update to 15.04 or 15.10, as OP did.

My workaround solution is to logout and login. However, I'm not happy with this solution, at all.

[Mateo Salta (mateo-salta)]

seems to still happen when I upgraded to 15.10.

[Mateo Salta (mateo-salta)]

current workaround every time it happens for me:

- login
- alt+ctrl+t to open terminal
- sudo killall gnome-session
- move mouse to verify it is there
- login again...

[Linkgoron (linkgoron)]

Hi,

Just wanted to add that I updated from 15.04 to 15.10 and also have the same problem.

loging out and back in doesn't help ( I see the cursor on the login screen, but it disappears after I login).

[Group_5 (santhoshsk12695)]

Hello Friends,

here is the solution to this problem

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use the following command

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

[Luís de Sousa (luis-de-sousa)]

This issue was first reported by users on 13.04 and has lasted at least to 15.10. I am presently struggling with it on Ubuntu 14.04. On this release the "gsettings set" workaround does not work, neither does logging out and logging back in. There are a number of other workarounds discussed at AskUbuntu:

http://askubuntu.com/q/626078/177437