Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Cursor disappears after screensaver / monitor sleep?

RumMunkey

RumMunkey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 3, 2006
692
2
Canada
Hey all,

Here's a weird problem I just got on a new (refurb) MBP.

Sometimes (not always) when I comeback to my MacBook after it's gone to screensaver then display sleep (though not full system sleep) the cursor is invisible upon wake.

I know the cursor is still there, but it just can't be seen on screen. If I go down to one of my hot corners, the associated action still happens (in my case sleep the display / activate screensaver -how ironic :rolleyes: ), and if I roll over the dock I can bring it up and magnify the icons as I roll over them.... all with no visible cursor whatsoever.

In fact, I only get a cursor once I click on an app and either launch it or bring it up from being minimized / hidden.

This has never happened on any machine I've had before, but by all indications it's a software problem, nothing to do with the hardware.

It's a new 15" MBP 2.2 Ghz, 4GB Ram running Leopard 10.5.2 with all updates (even the recent keyboard update).

A search on this brought up someone else on another board with the same problem, but then the issue got clouded with discussion of dual-monitors or external displays (neither of which I use).

I'm going to go fix permissions right now, but I was hoping somebody here could ID this and help me figure it out.

Thanks!
 
this has been happening to me too, only just bothered to search for a solution, I've got spaces set as the middle mouse button on my usb mouse and if i click that then click again the mouse will be back.. not sure why this started or how to fix it though!
on a macbook with 10.5.2
 
Exact same thing happening

I'm not sure what the problem is either. The same thing happens to meet - and always after screensaver/monitor sleep.

It happened after the last OS update for me - or at least thats when I first noticed it.

I'm running OSX Version 10.5.4 on a brand new 24" iMac, 3.06 Ghz

Any help or insight on WTF is going on would be most appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Add me to the list, on my 1.5 powerbook 12". My MBP is fine though, it's weird. It started between the time I installed the office 12.1.1 update and 10.5.4 last week.
 
same here

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Same thing happening here, MBP, 10.5.4, all updates, no cursor after sleep.

I have seen reports of this same thing all over the web, going back to 2002, with noone ever posting any resolution.

OP are you still having the same issue? Has anyone else found a fix? I use my MBP for Photoshop and cannot keep losing my cursor and having to restart.
 
Me too - iMac and 10.5.5

I am having the same problem. I think it happened after the 10.5.5 update, but I'm not sure . . .
 
Hell. Me too. This is a new issue for me, but it's exactly the same as what you've all described. No (visible) cursor after screen saver and wake from sleep.

I don't know that this helps, but I didn't start using a screen saver at all until some weeks ago. Maybe the problem depends on the use of a screen saver.
I wish I had more insight, and I wish somebody had a solution.
 
Been experimenting a little more. Seems to happen more when using an external mouse (usb/bluetooth) and also happens more when the screensaver times in and display sleeps on its own and not using hot corners to put it to induce changes.
 
As another addition, I've started using Mouseposé to see if that'll help me find that missing cursor. While it HASN'T found the missing cursor, it has clarified one thing: we're not crazy - the cursor's definitely missing. Mouseposé does its job alright. It puts a spotlight, essentially, on where the cursor is (or should be). However, upon returning from that troublesome screensaver/sleep scenario, there's no cursor in the spotlight.

That may not help much, I guess, but it's one more piece of the puzzle, maybe. It seems like the mouse is still functional/responsive, it's just that the cursor is, for reasons we have yet to figure out, temporarily invisible.
 
A somewhat workaround that i've found is to use the select/highlight box feature of the desktop to determine the position of the cursor then click on things until it reappears.
 
Fix for disappearing cursor after waking up from sleep

This problem drove me crazy. I was disappointed that a brand new computer with a brand new OS would already have such a recurring issue. That said, this seems to do the trick:

Use Spaces!

Move the mouse until you can see that Spaces (in the dock -- or go up to Spotlight and find it) is selected, then just access a different "space" (one of the other 4 [default is 4] quadrants). Cursor appears immediately in the new space and remains present when you return to the original space.

I hope this helps you all, too.
 
I just reactivate the screen saver w/ the hot corner to bring it back up. Ha, what a strange annoyance hey. I'v gotten pretty used to it since it started in 10.5.2.
 
I tend to leave my MacBook on 24/7 and have the same issue. No fix that I know of, however an easy way to get the mouse back is to move it over the divider in the dock that sits between the apps and the folders. For whatever reason that brings mine back every time.
 
pjarvi said:
I tend to leave my MacBook on 24/7 and have the same issue. No fix that I know of, however an easy way to get the mouse back is to move it over the divider in the dock that sits between the apps and the folders. For whatever reason that brings mine back every time.
Click to expand...
Cool, thank you! I will try that next time. I had to restart my computer today to get the damn thing back.
 
still happening in snow leopard

this happened to me when I used leopard, and it's still happening in snow leopard. In fact, it happened to me on my old Powerbook, and it's still happening on my new MPB. Not all the time, only after sleep.

Seems like the Spaces trick, which I also used to use to get my cursor back, no longer works in Snow Leopard. What does seem to work is using application switcher to pull up a window.

Incredibly annoying, completely unacceptable. Come on, Apple!
 
I'm continuing to have this issue, after upgrading to Snow Leopard. My keyboard will just intermittently stop working as well, and I have to restart. It's very frustrating.
 
H2N2 mouse flu?

When my cursor disappears, I unplug the mouse and plug it back in. That has always worked so far. I've no idea why it does this, and cannot pinpoint it to a specific thing I was doing before, just that it's always when I first sit down at the computer. That is, it never happens in the middle of a work session.
 
I'm running 10.6.2 on an MBP 15" and apparently this still hasn't been fixed. Switching spaces doesn't work for me either... but searching on google did. I just hope the same thing works in the future...

My computer didn't even go to sleep though. I've set it so that I don't have a screen saver, but after about an hour of not using it, the cursor had disappeared.
 
this is the first time this has happened to me.. normally i put my imac to sleep, today i just let it repeat my itunes playlist and loop for about 12 hours and slept thru it. it eventually went from screensaver to no screen, still playing the music.. woke it up and no mouse. none of the above tricks worked (couldnt try spaces though). I had to restart completely. Oddly enough i had the 10.6.2 update waiting to be installed, and when it asked me to install or restart, the mouse was there. any ideas on a fix for this?
 
disappeared cursor on wake from sleep

Me too!
Using Snow Leopard 10.6.2 - started after MS Office update 12.1.1 ...
Cursor reappears after about 10 minutes. Usually I'm not that patient, so I restart.
Have to try the Spaces trick. Hope it works.
 
I had this same problem. I used a utility (Mouse Locator,
http://mouse-locator.en.softonic.com/mac) to find out where the cursor should have been. I then used Mouse Locator to move the invisible cursor to the Dock. I opened Safari to look for answers to the disappearing mouse problem and the cursor magically reappeared.
 
I have the same problem. It's related to the specific screensaver being used. In my case it started after I installed the new FlipSaver (replacement for Fliqlo) which is ScreenTime (Flash) based.

I don't know of a fix, but using Command-Tab after unlocking brings the mouse back for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back