
Mouse cursor disappears when my refrigerator turns off - davis
https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/55pbqp/mouse_cursor_disappears_when_my_refrigerator/
======
Animats
Known bug #1568604: "Mouse cursor lost when unlocking with Intel graphics"[1].
There are many suspend/resume/power management events which can cause the
cursor to disappear. The refrigerator cycling is probably causing a brief
power dip or surge which the computer interprets as a power cycling event.
There's a fix, and it's gradually going into the various Linux distros.

When this happens, try CTRL-ALT-F1 followed by CTRL-ALT-F7. That switches the
display to text mode and back. If that restores the cursor, this is the
problem.

[1] [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-
video...](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-
intel/+bug/1568604)

~~~
ac29
Arch has been distributing git builds of xf86-video-intel for a while, since
there haven't been any releases in almost 2 years. The bug was fixed over a
month ago and the latest Arch build is only a few days old. Its even noted as
being fixed on Arch in the bug comments [0].

So, probably not that.

[0]
[https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94677](https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94677)

~~~
Animats
If you can get the cursor to disappear with the display still running, the bug
is related to this bug. Maybe the fix isn't complete enough.

------
wbraun
I think thinkpads of that generation had RF shielding issues.

I had a W520 that would crash whenever it was moved across a table or removed
from a backpack. Turns out the shielding on the RAM door was faulty and the
static charge generated by friction on the bottom of the case was enough to
corrupt the ram contents and crash the laptop. Talk about a bizarre failure.

------
tedunangst
"Try another refrigerator" pretty much sums up internet help.

~~~
M_Grey
Just wait until you find out that it sums up everything from auto repair to
diagnostic medicine...

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throwwit
I think my old Optical USB mouse had a ferrite bead just for this.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead)

------
clebio
I really wanted this to be about a smart refrigerator stealing a wireless
mouse's signal from the desktop trackpad, or something of the sort. Though the
plausible explanation[1] is just as pathological (albeit not as nefarious).

[1]:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/55pbqp/mouse_cur...](https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/55pbqp/mouse_cursor_disappears_when_my_refrigerator/d8cqc2c)

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xyzzy_plugh
ctrl+f "ground": no results.

I'd bet it's a grounding issue.

~~~
simcop2387
Probably not grounding, but quite probably some kind of voltage dip.

------
micro_softy
I have a similar issue.

Sometimes, but not every time, when I turn on a particular halogen lamp using
the same outlet as a particular computer, it triggers USB detection and I get
kernel messages on /dev/console as if I was plugging in a USB device.

This is a BSD kernel.

~~~
svckr
Now, if you had some kind of home automation switching the lights you could
implement a really slow communication protocol as a USB device driver.

