mouse suddenly disappears, cold reboot needed

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Level 1

8 points

mouse suddenly disappears, cold reboot needed

Mouse pointer suddenly disppears from the screen, doesn't reappear, so a complete reboot is required to restore the sutuation.

Very strange, but this happens now on both our computers:

iMac Retina 5K, 27", 2019, macos Monterey 12.4 with a HP mouse with USB cable
iMac M1, 24", 202, macos Monterey 12.4 with a Magic Mouse

Should we wait for an update of macos, or is there another solution for this annoying problem (never occurred before, but now it happens several times a day).

iMac 27″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jul 18, 2022 1:42 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

-Bubba-

Level 6

10,962 points

Jul 18, 2022 2:04 PM in response to toucheguy

When it happens, try shaking the mouse. If the pointer stays missing, try putting the Mac to sleep, then reawakening it. If the mouse continues to refuse to appear, turn off your computer, but reset NVRAM on startup. Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. You can release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart. This may solve the issue.

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

-Bubba-

Level 6

10,962 points

Jul 19, 2022 12:01 PM in response to toucheguy

That is quite odd. You're of course correct that M1 iMacs can't have their NVRAM/PRAM reset (as there's no need), so it can't be that.

It's really quite hard to say without knowing for sure, but it may be related to a certain background task. If feasible, booting into Safe Mode would be a good test to see if the issue happens. I don't know how often it happens, so staying in Safe Mode until it does might not be practical, but it would isolate any software issues.

Failing that, you might need to make a visit to your local Apple Store or Genius Bar or contact Apple Support.

Sorry I couldn't help more.

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Answer 3

toucheguy Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 19, 2022 3:55 AM in response to -Bubba-

Thanks, Bubba.

One of the computers with the disappearing mouse problem has an M1 chip. The procedure doesn't work for M1 (see link above).
I tried the procedure once on the Intel Mac, but the mouse disappeared again. I'll try again...
When the mouse disappears, it seems a transparent whitish column (narrow rectangle) appears on the left of the screen, not the entire height, but almost, and some 4 mm large... Mysterious column.

Any more ideas for solving this - on M1 and Intel iMacs?

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mouse suddenly disappears, cold reboot needed

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