Why is mouse pointer disappearing on right and bottom of monitor

[wpshooter]

Friend has HP laptop computer approx. 2 years old, has fairly wide screen monitor (don't know exact measurement) and resolution was set at 1600 x 900 during / by installation of operating system - Linux Mint.

Laptop had Window 7 on it and it was replaced by Linux Mint 17 cinnamon.

Laptop had same problem in that mouse pointer disappeared on right side & bottom of monitor when it was running MS windows and now is doing that same thing under Linux Mint. This behavior does NOT occur on the top & left side on the monitor, i.e. pointer stops at very edge of top & left side of viewable area. It is as if the display size is larger than the physical size / viewable area of the monitor screen area.

There is no second / external monitor. I see no parameters in the BIOS regarding functioning of secondary monitors.

To my knowledge there are no external adjustments for the sizing & placement of the display image as there are on external LCD monitors, so I don't think it is that hardware controls need to be adjusted. BIOS / setup screen displays properly.

Can someone give me their best guess as to whether there is some parameter in the display and/or mouse settings in Linux Mint that would stop this disappearing mouse pointer ?

Or is it possible that the resolution simply needs to be changed to a different setting. Am somewhat reluctant to change resolution because I have found in the past that changing OS installed settings for monitor / display can have very negative consequences under Linux.

Can provide more info if needed.

P.S. - I personally have a desktop computer and have been running various versions of Linux (currently Linux Mint 17 Mate) for the past 10 years and this problem has never occurred on my desktop computer.

Thanks.

 

[Jodell88]

Uhh, this sounds like normal behaviour to me. Do you mean the mouse disappears before it reaches the bottom corner of the screen?

 

[pcgeek11]

This is normal and all computer screens and OS's do this.

 

[wpshooter]

This is normal and all computer screens and OS's do this.

Thanks but you must not have read the P.S. of my post !!!!

 

[wpshooter]

Uhh, this sounds like normal behaviour to me. Do you mean the mouse disappears before it reaches the bottom corner of the screen?

No, I mean that when the pointer gets to the right edge or the bottom edge it completely disappears and then you have to pull the mouse waaaaaaaaaaay to the left or waaaaaaaaaaaaay up to get it to come back on the screen. Usually when this happens it makes locating / seeing the pointer very difficult until you can relocate it / move it back onto the screen.

Thanks.

 

[MrColin]

I think you're on the right track with the display properties, also, make sure you're using the best driver available for the GPU you have.

 

[pcgeek11]

Thanks but you must not have read the P.S. of my post !!!!

Yes I did read your PS at the end of your post. I just now checked 5 different computers and the mouse pointer goes off the right and bottom edge of the screen on all of them.

Granted I do not have to move the mouse Waaaaaaaay to the left or upwards to get it back on the screen. But you didn't say this in the original Post.

It sounds like you have the resolution set too large.

 

[Legios]

Could you have a second "phantom" display enabled?

 

[wpshooter]

Could you have a second "phantom" display enabled?

Has been a while but now let me revisit this issue.

I just yesterday got thru installing Linux Mint 17 on another laptop computer for its owner, this one is a Gateway.

I went thru the exact same installation process as on the other person's HP laptop but this Gateway does NOT have the problem of the mouse pointer disappearing from the top & right-handed edge of the display. It stops at both of those edges, a bit of the pointer can be seen when it stops and all you have to do is slightly move the mouse pointer and then it is full visible on the display screen. I looked at the resolution that Mint setup for both of the laptops and they are both the same 1600 x 900.

So, I am still trying to figure out why the HP laptop is having this disappearing mouse pointer problem.

Again, as a reminder the problem HP machine exhibited this same problem under Windows as it now is current having under Mint. So, I don't think this behavior is OS or software related.

Is it possible that the HP's video card needs a FIRMWARE (not driver) update ? I don't have the laptop right now so I can not tell you the brand nor model of the card - will try to get them the next time I see the laptop's owner.

Any thoughts, welcome.

Thanks.

 

[Legios]

Can you run some sort of recording software of the mouse disappearing? If memory serves correctly if it is software based it "should" be captured and then you can see it on the playback. If it is hardware based then the recording should show the cursor acting normal on the playback, if it is the screen itself that is causing the issue.

 

[zir_blazer]

Chances are that the screen surface is much larger than the physical Monitor resolution. You would have to take a look to X.org config files.

 

[wpshooter]

Chances are that the screen surface is much larger than the physical Monitor resolution. You would have to take a look to X.org config files.

Thanks but I do not understand.

The size of the screens on both the HP & the Gateway laptops that I did are the same. And also, Linux Mint installation configured the resolution of both monitors as 1600 x 900.

Where is X.org files and what is it that I might be looking for ?

Also, what explains the fact that the HP had the same problem with both Windows & Mint and that the Gateway had NO problem with either Windows or Mint ?

Thanks.

 

[zir_blazer]

Something around this.
If it was a Notebook, you did ever used docking or attached a desktop Monitor to it? That could have been.

 

[wpshooter]

Something around this.
If it was a Notebook, you did ever used docking or attached a desktop Monitor to it? That could have been.

No docking or external monitor hooked to it, at least not after Linux Mint was installed on it.

As to "Monitor_settings THIS, tells me nothing about what I would be looking for to determine why the mouse pointer leaves the top and right hand side of the screen. And beside that, the note at the very first of this says "Newer versions of Xorg are auto-configuring, you should not need to use this", so why should I be having to change any thing here ?

Thanks.

 

[ArisVer]

Since you had the same problem in both windows and linux i would suggest that you try a few live linux distros to see if the proplem is still there. If it persists I would think that it's a hardware specific problem to that particular laptop.

Editing the xorg configuration file shouldn't be a problem as long as you do a careful search and study and keep a backup of the old file just in case. As you said the new versions of X are autoconfigured and you would probably find an empty file or no file at all and you would have to create it all by yourself.

 

[cncnick]

Has been a while but now let me revisit this issue.

I just yesterday got thru installing Linux Mint 17 on another laptop computer for its owner, this one is a Gateway.

I went thru the exact same installation process as on the other person's HP laptop but this Gateway does NOT have the problem of the mouse pointer disappearing from the top & right-handed edge of the display. It stops at both of those edges, a bit of the pointer can be seen when it stops and all you have to do is slightly move the mouse pointer and then it is full visible on the display screen. I looked at the resolution that Mint setup for both of the laptops and they are both the same 1600 x 900.

So, I am still trying to figure out why the HP laptop is having this disappearing mouse pointer problem.

Again, as a reminder the problem HP machine exhibited this same problem under Windows as it now is current having under Mint. So, I don't think this behavior is OS or software related.

Is it possible that the HP's video card needs a FIRMWARE (not driver) update ? I don't have the laptop right now so I can not tell you the brand nor model of the card - will try to get them the next time I see the laptop's owner.

Any thoughts, welcome.

Thanks.

Hi there wpshooter seems i have the same problem and others are not seeing it. The right and bottom NOT top is where the mouse disapears to i find this horrible as it throughs my co-ordination right out the window its like the mouse was made for a bigger screen than the one im using. NO im not in duel screen or anything. it would seem that the resolution needs tweeking. now can anyone help with this issue please

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm with the crowd that says "this is normal". Though, just a slight flick, and the mouse should be visible again, if it was off the edge on the right or bottom of the screen.

Sure it's not just a contrast thing, and you're not actually seeing the mouse move when you move it away from the edge once you've lost track of it temporarily?

I found that to be the case with my 4K screen, so I went (in Win10) into the "Seach Windows", and typed in "Contrast", and got to the "High-Contrast Control Panel", and click on Mouse, and made the mouse pointer bigger, and higher contrast. Now I don't lose my mouse cursor.

 

[cncnick]

thanks for your reply VirtualLarry, Been there and done that. but this is not the point. None of us would buy a brand new car with a cracked windscreen or a bad scratch. Therefor Windows should give us a better service for our hard earned. I feel its not to much to ask them to get it right in the first place instead of fleecing us for a shoody job. I do have bad eyes and this does make it difficult to find when its playing hide and seek on my 32"screen. Now when i had my imac i had a cursor program which was brill by anyones standard. it is put out there by a company called ( 2point5fish ) who only do apple stuff. the thing with that was" if you so much as nudged to mouse" then your eyes were drawn to the flashing target surounding the cursor. and it had nothing to do with press this button and that. My wish is that someone write a similer program for windows. Thankyou

 

[VirtualLarry]

I feel its not to much to ask them to get it right in the first place instead of fleecing us for a shoody job.

Or you could... learn how to use Windows?

Sorry, just meaning that, while high-contrast settings may be helpful for you, not everyone needs them, so they're not the default, and you have to go looking for them to change them.

Edit: I agree, Windows could be more accommodating to people that need the accessability services, at installation time, so that they wouldn't have to hunt down obscure settings after the fact.