No mouse pointer, but mouse works - Squeeze

[Branimir]

Amilo L1300 laptop, Debian Squeeze installed, XFCE desktop enviroment.

I update the system yesterday and after reboot, I lost the mouse cursor. I use touchpad, and it still works, I can navigate through apps and click and everything, just there is no mouse pointer drawn!

Here's is lspci list:

Code: Select all

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
01:01.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation ISL3886 [Prism Javelin/Prism Xbow] (rev 01)
01:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB-710/2/4 Cardbus Controller (rev 01)

I also reinstalled graphic drivers with sgfxi and here is the xorg.conf:

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Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
	FontPath     "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
	FontPath     "built-ins"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"dri"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "record"
	Load	"glx"
	Load  "dri2"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "auto"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor1"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "DRI"                	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "ColorKey"           	# <i>
        #Option     "VideoKey"           	# <i>
        #Option     "FallbackDebug"      	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "Tiling"             	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "Shadow"             	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "SwapbuffersWait"    	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvMC"               	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvPreferOverlay"    	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushBatches"  	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushCaches"   	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugWait"          	# [<bool>]
	Identifier  "Card0"
	Driver	"intel"
	VendorName  "Intel Corporation"
	BoardName   "82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
	BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "DRI"                	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "ColorKey"           	# <i>
        #Option     "VideoKey"           	# <i>
        #Option     "FallbackDebug"      	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "Tiling"             	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "Shadow"             	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "SwapbuffersWait"    	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvMC"               	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvPreferOverlay"    	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushBatches"  	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushCaches"   	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugWait"          	# [<bool>]
	Identifier  "Card1"
	Driver	"intel"
	VendorName  "Intel Corporation"
	BoardName   "82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
	BusID       "PCI:0:2:1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Card0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     1
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     4
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     8
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     15
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen1"
	Device     "Card1"
	Monitor    "Monitor1"
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     1
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     4
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     8
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     15
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection


Section "Extensions"
#	Option      "Composite"	"disable"
#	Option      "RENDER"	"disable"
EndSection

What went wrong and how can I fix this?

[Branimir]

Okay, it seems it's an intel -> kernel bug that's been going on for some time, I managed to google up some answers and they led to Ubuntu forums hehe.

Also, when i put laptop in suspend, then resume from suspend, mouse pointer is visible!

Anyways, is there a way to back to previously installed kernel version?

[julian516]

Since you used sgfxi I'll assume you know smxi? If so smxi has kernel options that will permit you to roll back to an older kernel. If you are correct that we have a kernel bug of some sort and your mouse worked properly with an older kernel then this might be the direct solution. Good reason to always keep a "known good" kernel on your boot list.

[Branimir]

hm, i could not find a way to roll back to older kernel, i think when i ran apt-get upgrade, kernel was upgraded to 2.6.32-5-686 from ... errr... 2.6.32-5-686 ? i guess current variant is the same but with some bugfixes, aren't kernels usually marked like 2.6.32-5-686-22 or something?

anyways after suspend i could get the mouse pointer back on screen, but wireless kept disconnecting randomly every few minutes.

then i used smxi to get 2.6.32-12.dmz.1-liquorix-686 kernel since i see that with 2.6.32 kernel's this computer doesn't have as much problems as with newer ones! now mouse cursor is visible, and wifi works properly.

i use p54pci drivers with firmware located in /usr/local/lib/firmware , does that mean if i use the liquorix kernel and after some time update the "stock" debian kernel to a newer version, it will reuse the wifi driver and firmware if i boot to that kernel version?

[julian516]

Son of a gun I just wrestled with a problem I traced back to that same 2.6.32-5 kernel! I finally removed it (I do not mess with kernels) and went back to using the Liquorix kernel I also had installed. So we converged on the same solution! How likely is that?

BTW I am now running Liquorix kernels on both Debian 6.0 and aptosid 2011-01. They run very well for me.

Very curious you could not roll back your kernel. I checked the smxi documentation before answering and it seemed to say that could be done. Apologies if I misunderstood.

Re your firmware question you will see a post from me over on the TechPattern site where I am struggling with the question I think you are asking. The answer seems to be that when we do a kernel upgrade we very likely have to reinstall the necessary firmware module into the new kernel. For me that means I reinstall my nvidia driver using sgfxi and then go to the Debian repos and pull my needed iwlagn firmware for wireless. Then everything works.

[Branimir]

Hm, about reusing old kernel... I think in this case it's the same "family" of kernel, at least as I understood it, usually grub list would be with all the kernels installed, despite updates, but this time the sole kernel installed was updated, so it remained sole in the list.

That laptop that I was fighting with is an older dog, remember I had all sorts of acpi problems with ubuntus, mints and others - Lenny on the other hand worked rock solid, but due gnome and ext3, i thought now Squeeze is stable I could install it with Xfce on ext4 and it was a winner, much faster, responsiver system!

[Lothar_Brendel]

I can confirm that: invisible pointer with linux-image-2.6.32-5-686=2.6.32-31 on Intel 852GM/855GM with xorg 1.7.7-13

Cheers
Lothar

[Branimir]

Also I had problems with Wifi on this laptop with the same kernel.

Using 2.6.32-29 kernel on that same machine to get rid of the mouse and wifi problems.

[sasciame]

I have the same problem on Compaq Presario 2210us after upgrading to 6.0.1 on March 20, 2011. I do not have squeeze-updates enabled in my sources.list so I just wait for the point release hoping that all of the bugs are worked out by then. If I Suspend, then wake the laptop back up, the mouse pointer is visible.

I am using Gnome.

[GilbertSullivan]

Interesting. I'm seeing this on a little Panasonic CF-R3 (subnotebook with Intel video subsystem) after upgrading to 2.6.32-5-686 in testing. I think it's funny that suspending and unsuspending the notebook lets the cursor be displayed.

I'm not going to use an older kernel. I'll just wait for this to get fixed. I'm a keyboard person, anyway, and it's only the slightest inconvenience to me as it is. When I actually need to use the touchpad, it's kind of like playing blind man's bluff to figure out where the cursor is. It's actually kind of fun!

[jcucurull]

I also confirm the problem in a Dell Inspiron 510m with an intel graphic card 855GM. Yesterday 23rd of March I upgraded a bunch of packages, which included kernel 2.6.32-31 and a last revision of Xorg, and today I have no pointer unless I put my computer to sleep and then wake it up.

[TBABill]

I have the same type issue on a desktop. I can see the mouse cursor but cannot move it. If I unplug the USB mouse and plug it right back in the system works normally.

[GilbertSullivan]

I have the same type issue on a desktop. I can see the mouse cursor but cannot move it. If I unplug the USB mouse and plug it right back in the system works normally.

If I understand what you're saying, that seems to not be the same issue.

I think most of us in this thread are saying that we cannot see a mouse pointer, but that we know the mouse is functional because we can see its influence as it's moved around in the desktop environment. We can also select, right-click, etc. But we don't see the mouse pointer until we suspend and then unsuspend our systems. At that point, the mouse pointer is visible.

I've had issues similar to the one you're reporting, and they have been caused by a variety of issues -- including faulty mouse or USB port hardware or problematic power management behaviors with respect to USB devices.

[jmadiedo]

I have the same problem, invisible mouse pointer, after updating squeeze on a dell inspiron 700m

[yobo]

not a solution but a helpful trick (until the devs do their thing and solve this bug for good):

if you have gnome you can go to System -> Preferences -> Mouse, then, on the first tab: tick on the ..."Locate Pointer: Show position of pointer when the Control key is pressed" option.

After this you will still not see your mouse pointer but when you click the Control key on your keyboard you will have a useful hint of the pointer's position so you can do the suspend/hibernate thing...

( I suppose that there is someway of doing this through some config file but i don't know that, if there really is a way maybe non Gnome users can use this trick)

[odoepner]

Hello,

Has anyone filed a bug report for this problem yet?

I am experiencing the same thing (invisible mouse pointer) after I upgraded yesterday. I am using XFCE on a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Debian Squeeze, using the intel video driver.

Maybe unrelated, but I also encountered a "GPU stuck" kernel message yesterday after the upgrade when I tried to play an MP4 in mplayer. That has never happened to me before. I has to reboot to make X functional again.

Seems like something got seriously screwed up with this kernel update.

Thanks
Oliver

[yobo]

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=619019

[radomik]

Hello,

After plenty backuping and restoring system, for me the simplest way to fix this problem is to reinstall/upgrade the following packages:

linux-base
linux-image-2.6.32-5-686_2.6.32-31
linux-libc-dev

In single-user mode (sudo telinit 1).

About reconnecting network I had the same problem (wifi - Broadcom BCM4309 802.11a/b/g) with latest version of packages network-manager network-manager-gnome. I'm using versions (I have these packages on disk, if somebody need I can send in email):

network-manager 0.8.1-6+squeeze1
network-manager-gnome 0.8.1-2

Best regards
Darek

[aspnair]

I found a similar problem with sid 2.6.38-2 kernel 2 days ago. My ps2 mouse stopped working, but USB mouse worked.
I solved that by loading "psmouse" module once and included that in /etc/modules so that it would be loaded automatically.

[yobo]

Hello,

After plenty backuping and restoring system, for me the simplest way to fix this problem is to reinstall/upgrade the following packages:

linux-base
linux-image-2.6.32-5-686_2.6.32-31
linux-libc-dev

In single-user mode (sudo telinit 1).

Didn't work for me, the only thing that does work is downgrading to the previous kernel...