mouse cursor becomes invisible after chaning users on cinnamon 18

[Songster]

I can change user ( I have made my spouse a different user), but when I change back the cursor becomes invisible. I think this doesn't happen when I use 'Log out' rather than 'change user' but I'm not entirely sure. The cursor is still there, - I can see a change in the icons as I the mouse over them, but the actual cursor can't be seen. I can solve the problem by closing down and restarting. Interestingly I have a similar problem with lowering of the pitch of the sound on changing user or after suspending, but I suppose that is a different thread. I didn't have these problems with cinnamon 16 and 17, but that was on a different PC.
Any ideas?

[Songster]

please can I update the above. I think the sound problem is only after suspending, not after changing user

[skelband]

I'm getting the exact same thing.
On Linux Mint 18 (MATE), x64.
If I return from hibernation and sometimes when going between virtual console and X the cursor may disappear or be restored. Seems quite random.
If the cursor is invisible, it seems to take significantly longer to Ctrl-Alt-F1 than normal.

Seeing this in the kernel diag:

[ 4767.020235] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Idling EVO timed out: 0x0000917d:0:0:0x00000040
[ 4769.177446] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Idling EVO timed out: 0x0000917d:0:0:0x00000040
[ 4785.736776] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Idling EVO timed out: 0x0000917d:0:0:0x00000040
[ 4787.873358] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Idling EVO timed out: 0x0000917d:0:0:0x00000040

I have an Nvidia GTX670 and using the nvidia-361 driver.

Never saw this on Mint 17.3.

Cheers,
skelband

[roger]

My cursor is disappearing with cinnamon 18 also, see Cursed Cursor thread.

[Roland]

Same here; press ctrl-alt-esc to restart Cinnamon and the cursor appears again.

[chrisonmint]

I have the same problem. This is a fresh install of LM18 on a DELL laptop with a USB mouse, trackpad and a rubber button thing in the middle of the keyboard.

A user switch makes the mouse cursor invisible (but still active). A ctrl-alt-esc brings it back straight away, even before the Xorg has time to reset (ie mouse pops back, then the screen goes black, then everything comes back).

Has anyone reported this as a bug?

[chrisonmint]

Oh, and I dont know if this is related, but I have just done a user switch and now all the text in dialog boxes are garbled.

Forget this, I am putting my LM17.3 install back in. Let me know if anyone gets a fix for this.

[chrisonmint]

Oh, and I dont know if this is related, but I have just done a user switch and now all the text in dialog boxes are garbled.

The missing text when you switch users or come back from suspend appears to be an intel video bug:
https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/issues/5607
it needs to be fixed upstream in Ubuntu before we get a resolution:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1573959

and the missing mouse pointer, again limited to Intel video users is a "known issue" and again needs fixing in Ubuntu:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1568604

These bugs both likely affect ALL distros derived from Ubuntu 16.04 using the 4.4 kernel series. Our options appear to be either restart cinnamon with a

Code: Select all

Ctrl + Alt + Esc

every time the bugs occur, or stick with LM 17 running a 3.13 kernel.

One proposed fix is to remove the xserver-xorg-video-intel driver completely (use synaptic or apt) and let linux default back to a "modeset" video mode (see top link in github). If anyone tries this, please report back on whether it works!

thanks

[Roland]

I upgraded to Mint 18.2 and the problem has worsened: even with cntr-alt-esc I will not see the mouse cursor again after switching users.
Annoying...

[chrisonmint]

I upgraded to Mint 18.2 and the problem has worsened: even with cntr-alt-esc I will not see the mouse cursor again after switching users.
Annoying...

aarrrgghhh! that doesnt sound good. All the problems with Mint 18 has caused me to jump over to Ubuntu Gnome 17.04, but that also exhibited a Intel video bug (although a different one to this). It all works great with the 4.12 kernel series, but that isnt LTS and not officially an Ubuntu kernel yet even... "mainline" ie compiled from linux vanilla source with no ubuntu-specific optimisations.

maybe try moving up to a newer kernel? it might not be officially supported by LM, but might give you a working system.