Lost my mouse pointer !!

[Bill Case]

Hi;

Just installed a new ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard with an integrated NVIDA
GeForce C51PV 6150 chipset.  Got everything working except my mouse.

Actually my mouse mainly works but I can't get the pointer to show up on
my desktop even though icons and labels show focus when I happen to have
my mouse focus over them.  Tried every possible variation of the mouse
preferences setup.  Removed my wallpaper.  My xorg.conf file shows no
mouse definition and I am certain mouses used to be defined there.  I am
using an ordinary Microsoft three button mouse.

Any suggestions graciously received.  This is turning into one of the
silliest, frustrating Fedora challenges I have faced so far.

[Rick Stevens]

On Wed, 2007-08-08 at 06:20 -0400, William Case wrote:
> Hi;
>
> Just installed a new ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard with an integrated NVIDA
> GeForce C51PV 6150 chipset.  Got everything working except my mouse.
>
> Actually my mouse mainly works but I can't get the pointer to show up on
> my desktop even though icons and labels show focus when I happen to have
> my mouse focus over them.  Tried every possible variation of the mouse
> preferences setup.  Removed my wallpaper.  My xorg.conf file shows no
> mouse definition and I am certain mouses used to be defined there.  I am
> using an ordinary Microsoft three button mouse.
>
> Any suggestions graciously received.  This is turning into one of the
> silliest, frustrating Fedora challenges I have faced so far.

Probably the hardware mouse pointer issue.  Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf
file and make sure you have the following in it:

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "nv"  (or whatever driver you're using)
        Option      "HWCursor" "off"  <<---That's the important bit
EndSection

Log out and let X restart.  Your pointer should be back.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Principal Engineer             [e-mail] -
- CDN Systems, Internap, Inc.                http://www.internap.com -
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Mikkel]

William Case wrote:
> Hi;
>
> Just installed a new ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard with an integrated NVIDA
> GeForce C51PV 6150 chipset.  Got everything working except my mouse.
>
> Actually my mouse mainly works but I can't get the pointer to show up on
> my desktop even though icons and labels show focus when I happen to have
> my mouse focus over them.  Tried every possible variation of the mouse
> preferences setup.  Removed my wallpaper.  My xorg.conf file shows no
> mouse definition and I am certain mouses used to be defined there.  I am
> using an ordinary Microsoft three button mouse.
>
> Any suggestions graciously received.  This is turning into one of the
> silliest, frustrating Fedora challenges I have faced so far.

It sounds like a hardware cursor problem. You may have to add:
Option "SWCursor" "on"
or
Option "HWCursor" "off"
to your xorg.conf file.

Mikkel

[Ian Malone]

William Case wrote:
> Hi;
>
> Just installed a new ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard with an integrated NVIDA
> GeForce C51PV 6150 chipset.  Got everything working except my mouse.
>
> Actually my mouse mainly works but I can't get the pointer to show up on
> my desktop even though icons and labels show focus when I happen to have
> my mouse focus over them.  Tried every possible variation of the mouse
> preferences setup.  Removed my wallpaper.  My xorg.conf file shows no
> mouse definition and I am certain mouses used to be defined there.  I am
> using an ordinary Microsoft three button mouse.
>
> Any suggestions graciously received.  This is turning into one of the
> silliest, frustrating Fedora challenges I have faced so far.

Possibly a known disappearing pointer XOrg bug affecting the nv
driver.  Two options:

1. Continue with the nv driver, disable hardware cursor acceleration.
Look for a section in xorg.conf containing the Driver "nv" line and
add the SWCursor line as below:

Section "Device"
         Option      "SWCursor" "True"
         Identifier  "Videocard0"
         Driver      "nv"
EndSection

2. Use the nvidia driver.  You may need to disable graphical boot by
removing the rhgb option from your kernel line in /etc/grub.conf.

[Bill Case]

Thanks Ian and Mikkel

On Wed, 2007-08-08 at 23:52 +0100, Ian Malone wrote:
> William Case wrote:
> > Hi;
>
> Possibly a known disappearing pointer XOrg bug affecting the nv
> driver.  Two options:
> Continue with the nv driver, disable hardware cursor acceleration.
>
> Look for a section in xorg.conf containing the Driver "nv" line and
> add the SWCursor line as below:
>
> Section "Device"
>          Option      "SWCursor" "True"
>          Identifier  "Videocard0"
>          Driver      "nv"
> EndSection
> Use the nvidia driver.  You may need to disable graphical boot by
>
> removing the rhgb option from your kernel line in /etc/grub.conf.

Worked like a charm.  A catch-22.  If I had asked sooner, I could have
saved myself a couple of hours.  However, if I had asked sooner, the
solution would have been known by everybody, leaving me looking
extremely stupid and lazy.

One thing that is always true: "ya can't win".