Loss of mouse cursor - attn. : Jose Jeswin

[Sebastian42]

On a number of occasions now, I have lost the mouse cursor; and CTRL ALT DEL was ineffective. Rebooting is enough to fix the problem 'for the rest of the day'. It occurs soon after the first bootup of the day, and often when replying to an email (in Windows Live mail) or to a forum thread (in Firefox v50). Telling me that they are both obsolete programs does NOT advance my cause - after all, those programs serve me OK for the rest of the day.

 

[ShiBDiB]

Does Ctrl alt delete not work at all?

 

[Sebastian42]

Once the mouse is lost, CRTL ALT DEL does not work

 

[Night]

Sounds like malware to me, try scanning the system with malwarebytes. Other guess woud be damaged Windows installation, try running Automatic Repair or system restore. If nothing else helps I would suggest a full hard drive format with new installation.

 

[Sebastian42]

I routinely scan with Mbam already. As for damaged Windows, I'm about to update the system to v21H1

 

[Mussels]

I remember a similar issue about a decade ago with certain AMD graphics cards, where the mouse cursor would vanish and be replaced by a little pixely line that was hard to see


you really do need to give us actual information about the system and software here, we've got nothing to go on except guesses here

 

[Sebastian42]

I know there are programs that will collect data about the PC - its specifications - recommend one and I'll use it.
Last year I ran an AMD-Diagnostics, so AMD may well be relevant.

Apart from the mouse disappearing, I do often have the cursor changing to the shape of the Kleptomania selection tool - which sounds to me analogous to the phenomenon you describe.

The update to v20H1 has completed satisfactorily.

 

[night.fox]

have you tried running sfc /scannow?

 

[Sebastian42]

I have.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

do you have a cordless mouse?..the first thing to check would be the batteries..

And do you have another mouse to check proper functioning?....i have to tell you that i am no expert..

and i would also suggest updating your video card drivers too..

 

[Sebastian42]

I have checked other mice; the video card drivers are the latest

 

[Mussels]

I have checked other mice; the video card drivers are the latest

This is sort of information you need to expand on.

What drivers? What video card?

Try and provide this information without us asking first, as it really will help speed things up. We need you to tell us what PC you have and its hardware, and what software is running on the machine - drivers, programs, anything.

 

[Sebastian42]

I wrote before "I know there are programs that will collect data about the PC - its specifications - recommend one and I'll use it."
Once you have that dossier you'll probably have the info you ask for.

 

[Mussels]

I wrote before "I know there are programs that will collect data about the PC - its specifications - recommend one and I'll use it."
Once you have that dossier you'll probably have the info you ask for.

A program cant provide this information, you have to.

 

[Sebastian42]

Card : Nvidia Ge Force GT710 (1Gb GDDRS) Driver : NVidia v361.75

I thought programs like CPU_Z, Speccy, SiSoftSandra, Everest, Belarc, AIDA, gathered that sort of information. There is AT LEAST one other one that produces a sendable report - I have forgotten its name.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

HWINFO 64

 

[Sebastian42]

Here it is - sorry about the delay.

 

[claes]

I’d suggest copying the text into a post. Most folk are reluctant to download random files from a forum.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

1. Your usb mouse is running on microsoft basic driver...try using logitech drivers for your mouse...search for the driver by using your mouse model which will be given on the underside of the mouse.
2.Disable 'selective usb suspend' setting in power options.
3.Try using a newer or better mouse pad if you have one..

 

[Sebastian42]

The mouse has Microsoft written on it - it's not likely that there would be Logitek drivers for it.
I found a 'selective USB suspend' and clicking on a '+' in front of it, showed a 'disabled' setting as in the attachment.
I don't use a specific mouse pad - the surface I use may not be ideal, but it's hard to believe that it would disable CTRL ALT DEL.

 

[qubit]

It's clear where your cursor problem is: out of date NVIDIA driver. You need to update it and the problem will go away. If it doesn't, then you have a faulty graphics card, but I don't think that's the case.

The GT 710, although very low performance, has the very latest driver, v466.77, available for it on W10 64-bit. You're on an ancient version, 361.75. This is exactly the kind of problem that a badly out of date driver can cause. Note that on W10 32-bit, the latest is only 391.35, which is still later than your one. You're on W10 64-bit, right? I see the hardware info file you posted shows a lot of irrelevant info, but the one thing we need to know, the 32-bit / 64-bit status of Windows 10 is missing, unfortunately.

Get the latest driver from here: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

Also, I think it's fair to ask, why are you running such an old version of Firefox? There's nothing to gain from it, although it's not causing the cursor issue. Your whole system seems to be badly in need of an update, including the CPU and supporting hardware.

 

[Sebastian42]

My system is a 32bit. I have tried to update the NVidia to the v391.35 you mentioned.
'an old version of Firefox? There's nothing to gain from it' If that were true I'd have updated it. Mind you there are many things I can no longer do in it, and then I use an uptodate Chrome.
I am quite aware of the 'retro' nature of my setup, and will update it but only when need forces me to.
I ALSO have a drive with 64bit system and the latest Firefox. In fact I have just used it, because a particular app requires more RAM than the 32bit allows. You may have noticed that 14Gb of RAM is fitted although 32bit can only use 3.8Gb.

 

[qubit]

Ok, I appreciate your confession and honesty, hence the like.

Look, I get it, you have old hardware and a low end graphics card and there can be personal reasons for that, such as financial situation, which I won't pry into. I'm not having a go at you for that.

But seriously, I don't get why you won't upgrade your operating system and Firefox and any other old software you've got there. Times change, so the software has to change to keep up and especially for security updates. Just try using Windows XP now, for example. At one time, it was THE operating system to have, now it's a basket case due to lack of support.

Yes, I see from the hardware file that you have 14GB installed. You should definitely be running 64-bit Windows 10 build 21H1 nowadays the whole time and not switch between the two, unless you have a very special use case, which seems unlikely. Do you? Perhaps if you used W10 64-bit you'd be ok with upgrading the apps, too?

Check out my hardware specs. I'm still rocking a decade old 2700K and the thing works fine, still flies on the desktop. The only thing I really notice, is that it can't reach the highest frame rates on modern games, like 144Hz, although it's still not bad and very playable. I'll hopefully finally upgrade it when Alder Lake comes out and perhaps to the latest Zen CPU. Dunno yet.

 

[Sebastian42]

'why you won't upgrade your operating system and Firefox' - I have done so, and told you I even used it 'a little while ago' for an app that requires more RAM than x32 allows - I have it available for when I need it.
'unless you have a very special use case, which seems unlikely. Do you?' I do. I have a vast amount of 'documentation' in WordPerfectforDOS that is easier to access from my retro system than from the x64. WordPerfectforDOS is a text editor that has a unique (and valuable) function called UNDELETE, which is JUST that, and not the UNDO that other programs offer. It also has a KEY-TRIGGERED 'switch documents' function, that is also unique, and which I value. If if can not do something in WordPerfectforDOS which MSWORD can, then I use MSWORD.
The old Firefox allows me to continue to run a very functional video downloader, which a later Firefox will not let me.
The features for which you recommend the latest software and hardware are of no interest to me, whereas the 'old ones' are.

My 64bit system can not 'see' an external HDD with software backups, which my 32bit has no trouble in accessing.
The mail system of Win10 is not TO ME as user-friendly as the obsolete Windows Live Mail which can no longer be installed.

I have tried to install that NVidea driver on a clone of my system - to see first whether it would succeed before 'contaminating' my actual system. Partway through the installation, it gave a popup saying "No suitable graphics devices found", yet continued on till the end. So I do not know if it got installed. There is probably somewhere that I can check that, and you might be able to tell me where to look.

 

[claes]

Hwinfo or the nvidia control panel will tell you. See “driver version” in your hwinfo dump