firefox: mouse pointer disappears while page is loading

[Giannis Tsakiris]

In Gutsy Gibbon I noticed that while Firefox (2.0.0.8) is loading a page the mouse disappears if you move the mouse over an empty area of the page.
That means that if you move the mouse over some text or a link the mouse pointer shows up normally.
When the page is fully loaded the mouse pointer is always visible, even in the empty areas of the page.

I have confirmed this behaviour in two different computers since upgraded to Gutsy Gibbon.
In one computer I did release upgrade from Feisty Fawn to Gutsy Gibbon, and on the other computer I did a fresh installation on another partition.

I tried to change the mouse pointer's theme but it happens in all available themes.

I also tried with visual effects disabled and it's still happening.

[Simos Xenitellis  (simosx)]

This might be related to a graphics card bug; when a page is loading in Firefox, the mouse pointer changes to an animated mouse pointer.
The graphics card or the system configuration may not support animated mouse pointers, thus showing nothing at that point.

To verify whether this is the case, you can change the Mouse pointer theme to a basic one without animated pointers. See under System/Preferences/Mouse.

[Louis-Dominique Dubeau (ldd)]

I experience the same thing Giannis reported. I run Gutsy. My GPU driver is the nVidia closed-source version 100.14. My Firefox version is at 2.0.0.11. This happens only in Firefox and no other program. I also noticed that the problem is intermittent. Firefox can run for a long time without showing the bug. But after a while the bug comes up. I have not been able to identify what would trigger it.

I checked in System/Preferences/Mouse but saw nothing there to set the mouse pointer. I checked in System/Preferences/Appearance. My theme is Clearlooks and the Pointer tab shows that the pointer is set to the default.

[Louis-Dominique Dubeau (ldd)]

The bug also happens with the nVidia closed-source driver at 169.09.

[Mark (stinkriver)]

I experience the same effects on Ubuntu Hardy Beta, using Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 4.

I am running an ATI card (fglrx) with AIGLX. The problem appears while using both metacity and compiz.

Hitting the stop button on the browser usually makes the pointer behave itself.

[Chris Roddy (cmr)]

There is a workaround noted on a duplicate bug, but I don't see it here so I'll post it for the benefit of those that happen upon this bug.

The workaround is to disable the "Hide original mouse pointer" option in the Enhanced Desktop Zoom plugin. You can do this either using ccsm, or by setting /apps/compiz/plugins/ezoom/screen0/options/hide_original_mouse to False using gconf-editor.

[Louis-Dominique Dubeau (ldd)]

Now running Hardy. The bug is still present. The workaround does nothing for me. Version information:

compiz:
  Installed: 1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7
  Candidate: 1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7
  Version table:
 *** 1:0.7.4-0ubuntu7 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:0.7.4-0ubuntu6 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

firefox:
  Installed: 3.0.2+build6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~fta1~hardy
  Candidate: 3.0.2+build6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~fta1~hardy
  Version table:
 *** 3.0.2+build6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~fta1~hardy 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.3 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/main Packages
     3.0~b5+nobinonly-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

[Yeah, I'm using the fta Firefox but I've had this issue with all Firefoxes I've used in compiz.]

nvidia-glx-new:
  Installed: 169.12+2.6.24.13-19.45
  Candidate: 169.12+2.6.24.13-19.45
  Version table:
 *** 169.12+2.6.24.13-19.45 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com hardy-security/restricted Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     169.12+2.6.24.12-16.34 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/restricted Packages

xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2
  Candidate: 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2
  Version table:
 *** 1:7.3+10ubuntu10.2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:7.3+10ubuntu10 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

As I mentioned in an earlier comment, this bug is not always present. Firefox can run fine for several hours and then the bug shows up. I do not know of a sequence of actions to reproduce the bug.

[P_Gibbons (wolfseyn)]

As Chris Roddy stated;
"The workaround is to disable the "Hide original mouse pointer" option in the Enhanced Desktop Zoom plugin. You can do this either using ccsm, or by setting /apps/compiz/plugins/ezoom/screen0/options/hide_original_mouse to False using gconf-editor."

I had to restart X (Ctrl+Alt+Bksp will do this if you don't already know) after disabling the "Hide original mouse pointer" option.

I don't think this is related to Firefox at all. It has to do with the animated cursors. Happens w/o Firefox running (anytime the animated cursor shows).

[Chris Roddy (cmr)]

P_Gibbons wrote 2 hours ago:
>I had to restart X (Ctrl+Alt+Bksp will do this if you don't already know) after disabling the "Hide original mouse pointer" option.

Yes, that's true. I should have noted that. The option won't take effect without an X restart.

[Munchkinguy (10068660)]

I have this problem even when Desktop Effects are disabled.

[thet (thet)]

i had the same problem.

"""
>I had to restart X (Ctrl+Alt+Bksp will do this if you don't already know) after disabling the "Hide original mouse pointer" option.

Yes, that's true. I should have noted that. The option won't take effect without an X restart.
"""

that did the trick.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Thank you for taking the time to file this bug report with us. Closing due to age. If this is still a problem in 3.0.7 please reopen this bug.
Also please reopen with all new information on how to reproduce this bug by giving us step by step instructions.
We also need what happens what is expected to happen.
To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[mike hancock (javaiscoolmike)]

I still have this problem; but i figured out what triggers it for me; specific settings in compiz for "enhanced zoom" caused this problem for me; puting enhanced zoom back to it's defaults of disabing "enhanced zoom" 'fixed' it for me. this was on intrepid and on current apha of jaunty.

[crackie (nomedsoft)]

easy fix:

Add: Option "HWCursor" "True"
in Section: "Device" of file /etc/X11/xorg.conf

in my case sw-coursors still work but when the sw-coursor dissapears in fox you will see the hw-cursor so it is a good workaround

by the way: nice work guys ...

[crackie (nomedsoft)]

oh, i also disabled those hide and scale settings of enhenced zoom plugin
may be that also helped, but disabling those alone did nothing for me.

[crackie (nomedsoft)]

ok i think i found the exact cause:

The problem with animated mouse cursors disappearing (like the loading cursor in Firefox) is described here [beryl-project.org]. Apparently the 'Scale the mouse pointer' and 'Hide original mouse pointer' options of the Enhanced Zoom plugin from Compz Fusion work by changing the size of the cursor to 1x1. After zooming out the static cursors are restored, but the animated are not. This is also why the bug appears so random. It only occurs after the first usage of the zoom function.

The solution is to disable the options mentioned above, and probably use the 'Sync Mouse' option, log out and log back in. The size of the cursor will now always stay the same, but it will also not disappear anymore.

read here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?s=2b2236b207d0b819e05dcd0f6a3d1583&t=469891&page=2

so it should also word to set SWcursor true and remove HWcursor true

[crackie (nomedsoft)]

So after some testing i can say SWcursor wont work at all .
(ugly blitting error so cursor is messed up when useing SWcursor)

So my steps to fix the bug are:

Step1 : Add: Option "HWCursor" "True"
             in Section: "Device" of file /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Step2: open ccsm and go to enhenced zoom plugin
            go to "Mouse-Behaviour"-Tab
            disable everything except "Sync Mouse"

Step3: save open files then press Alt+Ctrl+Backspace

Now you should be fine

Hope that helps cu guys

[Michael A. Phillips (maphilli14)]

I did not have this bug in Jaunty Alpha/Beta but I started to see it in the final week before release. I suffer it now.

I run a Lenovo T60p with ATI Technologies Inc M56GL [Mobility FireGL V5250]

Mike

[Tobias Lietke (tobias-lietke)]

Same problem here with Jaunty, nvidia-glx-180.
Neither HW nor SW cursor fixes it.
I don't want to change the zoom settings, so I created a non animated version of the DMZ mouse theme as a workaround.
Unzip as to ~/.icons and select the theme in System->Settings->Apperances (modify custom theme, edit, under pointer select DMZ (white) no animations).
Hope this helps anybody,
Tobias

[Sonny (aadityabhatia)]

I managed to reproduce this problem by turning on the following setting under Compiz, using `ccsm`:

ccsm > Enhanced Zoom Desktop > Mouse Behavior > Hide Original Mouse Pointer

Turning this switch off did not fix the problem, even after restarting the browser. Earlier, system had been running Intrepid and Jaunty for months with no problems, until I made this change.

Hope this helps the investigation.

[Lupine (thelupine)]

This still happens with Jaunty and all updated packages as off today.

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Reassigning to XOrg package as the comments show this occurs in both Metacity and Compiz and is related to the X cursor.

[Mike.lifeguard (mikelifeguard)]

Not sure why this is related to nvidia - I'm using intel graphics and have this bug (I should say "had this bug"... haven't checked recently if it's fixed with new kernel and xorg updates)

[goto (gotolaunchpad)]

Bug still Present in ubuntu Jaunty. Cursor disappears.

The workaround is not really a workaround since force you to configure the Enhanced zoom plugin to behave differently from what one might need. Basically is a crippling thing.

Bye

[Mike.lifeguard (mikelifeguard)]

This appears to be a bug in the way compiz handles keeping the size of animated cursors constant with enhanced zoom. It shrinks your real cursor down to nothing and draws a new cursor... when you zoom back out, it fails to resize the original cursor, but stops drawing the new one (since it's not needed unless you're zoomed). Thus after zooming out your cursor disappears.

See for example
*http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showpost.php?p=31025&postcount=2
*http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/compiz/2008-May/003106.html
*http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?s=2b2236b207d0b819e05dcd0f6a3d1583&t=469891&page=2
*https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/163250/comments/5

[Travis Watkins (amaranth)]

Actually it's a bug in the XFixes extension that compiz uses to change the size of the cursor.

[Wingman (mikywing)]

I confirm it happens on a faully updated hardy heron too. I also discovered it's not just releated to firefox itself, but also to panel animations. Try opening firefox from the panel button, and keep the mouse over the icon fading effect: it will disappear as it do with firefox. I didn't tried, but as someone already said it should be related to compiz, xorg, and only when something is loading.

I also confirm the problem appeared when i changed the options of the advanced zoom plugin with ccsm (in particular i enabled "hide hardware cursor while zooming" and "zoom even cursor". They're not the exaxt option names, but you got the idea :) ). Disabling them and restarting X fixes it.

I hope this problem will be resolved, since in my family there's a man with very poor sight and the zoom plugin is useless without a zoomed cursor.

I use open ATI drivers on a Radeon X600.