# Mouse pointer not visible in X



## mdl90 (Jan 10, 2016)

I have recently installed FreeBSD 10.2-RELEASE-p7. My USB connected Logitech 5 button mouse ML235 works in the console without issues (select & paste works). In TWM the mouse appears to operate in all respects (e.g. navigate drop down menus, switching mouse focus) except that the mouse pointer is not visible. The same is true in Fluxbox. Running XDM or GDM also makes no difference.

I have read: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/faq/x.html#x-and-moused and https://www.freebsd.org/doc/faq/compatibility-kbd-mice.html#moused

xorg.conf at pastebin.com/QXNtMKR6

Thanks for any suggestions


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## shepper (Jan 10, 2016)

One way to narrow things down would be to rename your xorg.conf to something like xorg.backup and restart X.  Most of the time it will auto-configure.
If that fails, It may be worthwhile reviewing the troubleshooing section in this Arch Linux Wiki.  It specifies how to set mouse cursor themes in your ~/.Xresources
It also mentions that there is a configuration option in GDM to set the cursor theme.

Edit: Wikk -> Wiki


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## mdl90 (Jan 10, 2016)

shepper said:


> One way to narrow things down would be to rename your xorg.conf to something like xorg.backup and restart X.  Most of the time it will auto-configure.
> If that fails, It may be worthwhile reviewing the troubleshooing section in this Arch Linux Wikk.  It specifies how to set mouse cursor themes in your ~/.Xresources
> It also mentions that there is a configuration option in GDM to set the cursor theme.



Thank you for these suggestions.

If I rename my config file, then Xorg does auto-configure and yields the same result of no visible cursor. (aside: where does xorg store it's configuration file in this case?).

After looking at the archwiki link, I have identified that there is no /usr/share/icons folder in my filesystem. However /usr/local/lib/X11/icons does exist. `pkg search` shows that libXcursor and xcursor-themes are both installed. I also wish to run xdm, in preference to gdm.

(aside: Solving this issue is hard-going, because at the moment my installation of X windows does not switch to the console with ctrl+alt+F1 etc. Instead the screen seems to freeze. I can go back to a responsive X session with ctrl+alt+F9, but once I have run `startx` I cannot get back to the console. If I kill xinit the system goes to a corrupted colour display and then reboots.)


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## shepper (Jan 10, 2016)

mdl90 said:


> If I rename my config file, then Xorg does auto-configure and yields the same result of no visible cursor. (aside: where does xorg store it's configuration file in this case?).



The configuration logs are in /var/log/Xorg.0.log.  The logs can be helpful in trouble shooting issues.



mdl90 said:


> (aside: Solving this issue is hard-going, because at the moment my installation of X windows does not switch to the console with  ctrl+alt+F1 etc. Instead the screen seems to freeze. I can go back to a responsive X session with  ctrl+alt+F9, but once I have run `startx` I cannot get back to the console. If I kill xinit the system goes to a corrupted colour display and then reboots.)



Did you enable vt(4) as described in section 5.4.3 of the handbook?


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## mdl90 (Jan 10, 2016)

shepper said:


> The configuration logs are in /var/log/Xorg.0.log.  The logs can be helpful in trouble shooting issues.



Right, yes, I've identified the log file. I'm continuing to explore this.



> Did you enable vt(4) as described in section 5.4.3 of the handbook?



I have now, but it's made no difference to switching consoles. I have a Radeon graphics card, which it's occurred to me, might be the source of this and the mouse error.

Thanks


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## wblock@ (Jan 10, 2016)

mdl90 said:


> I have a Radeon graphics card, which it's occurred to me, might be the source of this and the mouse error.


No.  Or rather, probably not.  It would be easier to tell if we knew which Radeon you might have and whether it is a real card or APU or one of those extra GPUs in a notebook.

Enabling vt(4) only takes effect after a reboot.


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## shepper (Jan 10, 2016)

mdl90 said:


> I have a Radeon graphics card,




```
I looked at your pastebin xorg.conf:
Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
---removed commented config lines
        #Option     "BufferCache"               # [<bool>]
        Identifier  "Card1"
        Driver      "intel"
        BusID       "PCI:0:2:1"
EndSection
```

Unless you are using a hybrid card, typically found on laptops, the driver in the above code would need to be changed from

```
Driver      "intel"
```
to

```
Driver      "radeon"
```

It might help to provide the portion of your `dmesg` output that loads the video driver and if you know it, the model of Radeon, ie 7660D


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## mdl90 (Jan 10, 2016)

wblock@ said:


> No.  Or rather, probably not.  It would be easier to tell if we knew which Radeon you might have and whether it is a real card or APU or one of those extra GPUs in a notebook.



Apologies, I am right off base there - it is an integrated Intel Graphics Controller Q965. The desktop is an Optiplex 745.



> Enabling vt(4) only takes effect after a reboot.



Yes, this was after a reboot.

`dmesg` says:

```
info: [drm] capturing error event; look for more information in sysctl hw.dri
info: i915_error_state
...FAILED to reset chip
```


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## mdl90 (Jan 10, 2016)

```
info: [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 1 (10.10.2010).
info: [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
drmn0: taking over the fictitious range 0xd0000000-0xe0000000
info: [drm] initialized overlay support
info: [drm] Connector VGA-1: get mode from tunables:
info: [drm]  - kern.vt.fb.modes.VGA-1
info: [drm]  - kern.vt.fb.default_mode
fbd0 on drmn0
VT: Replacing driver "vga" with new "fb".
info: [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for drmn0 on minor 0
error: [drm:pid12:i915_hangcheck_hung] *ERROR* Hangcheck timer elapsed... GPU hung
info: [drm] capturing error event; look for more information in sysctl hw.dri.0.info.i915_error_state
error: [drm:pid0:i915_reset] *ERROR* Failed to reset chip.
```


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## shepper (Jan 10, 2016)

Updated yesterday the FreeBSD Wiki on the work to update the i915 driver.  If you choose to go through the steps in the Wiki, I would first be sure that you have the latest stable updates freebsd-update(8) and that your xorg is also updated with `# pkg update && pkg upgrade`.


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