Mouse cursor disappears.

Add me to the list of victims of a disappearing mouse. I just purchased a new 13" Macbook Air i5 and installed Illustrator CS5.1. Doing a little art and noticed that half of the tools don't show up when I go to do something (ie, pick the rectangle tool to draw a square and have the cursor disappears. I can draw the square but have no idea where it is). The only thing that I can think of is that it is related to either the processor or graphics of the new Macbook Air. The computer the Air replaced was a 2011 (early) Macbook Pro with the quadcore 2.0 ghz i7 processor. Never had any issues with the cursor on the Pro - and still don't.

Both computers are running OS 10.8.4 and Illustrator version 15.1.0. All I can say is that this cursor problem is driving me crazy - talk about lost productivity.

My situation is a little like Michael's...the god news is I no longer have this problem - well , so far - but perhaps for a different reason.

Its been a good six months since I last participated in this forum -- i just got too frustrated following the trail of problems and potential workarounds (which didn't work for me)- no one seemed to be having any better experiences trying to solve the problem in any permanent way, the problem was erratic but not there all the time....so I just plugged away . Mind you I tend to use only dreamweaver and fireworks from cs (but the problem occurred when using browsers too so??) ...see below for why that matters....... I associate the problem with the installation of Mountain Lion, my use of adobe cs 5.5 and cs 6 (on two differetn machines), the disabling and subsequent patches of java by apple, and oracle.

How these pieces fit together i haven't a clue - i'm not a techie - but I know I didn't have the problem before mountain lion and I've been using adobe cs prodcuts since thir inception.

Here is the good news: .....The disappearing cursor problem hasn't occurred for a couple of months for rme, on my Macbook Pro (running 10.8.4) where I have CS6 creative suite installed and seems to have disappeared on my iMAc, wehre I have cs5.5 installed. The imporvement came on my macbook pro (OSX 10.8.4, cs 6) with recent oracle java updates - i now have version 7 update 25 installed - and the change in my imac (system 10.8.4, cs 5.5) when I updated that to version 7 update 25.

Just to let you know, I know there has been extensive writings on java, security, etc...and I have followed every update of Apple's in the sequence of updates they have for "disabling" their java (whatever that means), but I have also been doing the same with Oracle. Under system preferences>Other if you do have Oracle's Java for Mac installed you can find out what version by clicking on the Java icon, waiting what seems a long time until another control panel window opens then, finding your way to the updates segment.

Somehwere in the sequence of events/changes somethng is working for me - the disappearing cursor problem has, well, not reared its ugly head for a while...for me.

cheers

john

It you read all thread,I 'm the first that talked about Java to solve the problem, but last Java updates by Apple, months ago had return the problem back for me. I didn't try with the last Java version in this days, I will try.

good luck

i hate it when some arbitrary change "works" but (1) no one knows what the problem is in the first place and (2) why the change seems to work in any case?

i still dont trust that the problem has been solved and wish apple/adobe got onto it

i wonder if anyone has the problem who is just using adobe creatice suite apps in the cloud?? I can't (and don't want to) afford to do that

john

I updated to the latest Java from Oracle. However, it changed nothing for me. The cursor is still vanishing.

I know two people who are also having this issue and both are using the Creative Cloud versions of Photoshop, so that isn't a solution either.

At this point, I'm really hoping 10.9 solves this disappearing cursor problem.

If it doesn't, I'm going to have to switch over to a Windows machine for my work.

really can't understand your answer, we are talking about a serious problem for our productivity, many about os problem, driver video, java, third part software. ....and you? talk about a tethered mouse..

I use no mouse, wacom tablet tethered and cursor disappears.

Luigi.T

I don't think that you have understood the seriousness of this problem. I have had mouse problems since June 2011 when I got my present iMac. It had Lion, and the mouse problems, and 10 other problems (for one example, the pointer skittered across the screen and scrolled it away so I lost my place). I took it 5 times to the Genius Bar at an Apple Centre but they could find no solution to the mouse problems. I installed Mountain Lion as a clean installation (that is, I erased the internal hard drive, installed the OS and then installed my applications from the original discs (all standard industry-standard ones from Adobe, Microsoft etc.), manually re-entered my email account, Contacts etc. This prevented any corruption being carried over. The mouse problems continued.

This and other threads have documented the widespread problem, also solutions none of which has had any effect for me. Apple surely are aware of it but have decided to ignore it. I have sent them many compaints via their feedback site, as others have done, and this forum is, after all, run by them. I know they monitor it.

I had the choice of struggling to use a faulty machine, or get rid of the Magic Mouse and replace it with an optical tethered mouse. I chose the latter. I still have one bizarre problem: input from the keyboard sometimes gets transferred to Spotlight's input field rather than the document etc. where it is intended to appear. But the computer is usable. You could do the same by ditching your Wacom Tablet.

When I come to upgrading my hardware, I will go to a Windows machine which, although inelegant, seems, from my friends, to work OK.

By all means, all of you, carry on banging your head against a brick wall by fulminating against Apple. It will do no good. I chose another way. I can at least now do work on this rotten piece of junk.

Good luck to all of you, its all youv'e got.

SteveKir,

Luigi was right, your previous post made little sense. If you read through the pages of this thread you will see that many of us having the disappearing cursor issue are professionals who rely on a Wacom tablet for our work. There is no way to switch to a mouse, tethered or otherwise. Also, the tablet drivers are not to blame since there are others here who are not using graphics tablets and are experiencing the same issue.

Your rant at the end of your post was off base and unhelpful to everyone posting on this thread. I'm not sure why you felt the need to end your post that way.

Okay, here is an update on what I've tried to get this issue solved. As of now, none of it has worked for me

- reset PRAM

- clean reinstall 10.8

- uninstall and update Wacom drivers

- update Adobe software

- update to 10.8.4

- update Java to latest version

- search for active processes that may be causing an issue

- update flash

- safe boot (problem still occurs in safe boot mode.)

- contact AppleCare (no solution)

- change accessibility setting for cursor size

- contact Adobe (they blame it on Apple)

- went through all the other suggestions on this thread that looked promising.

I really don't want to switch to a Windows machine for my work, but I spend at about eight hours a day in photoshop and have taken a hit in my productivity because of this vanishing cursor problem.

I'll post again if I find anything that helps.

11th_door

This thread is titled "Mouse Cursor Disappears", the bulk of the posts have referred to the mouse cursor. I was posting about the mouse cursor problem.

My "rant" as you choose to call it was aimed at the need to face reality and accept that after two years at least since the problem first occurred, and the lack of any solution that has had widespread success, and the lack of any recognition, let alone help, from Apple, the time has come to accept that the fault is insoluble in practical terms and therefore it must be regrettably accepted or other solutions need to be chosen. I had a Windows machine at work several years ago and we all at work had to sigh and accept its faults. Complaining interminably has not worked in this present problem. In the case of the mouse, I suggested a solution that solved my problem and perhaps others could try it. Obviously it would not help tablet users. I was not addressing them.

To be fair to Apple (for a moment), Apple have sold 28 million Mountain Lions up to June 20th (Wikipedia). I don't know how many users of it have a mouse cursor problem, but it is probably a tiny proportion. They will have noted that this thread has had 59,212 viewings and only 329 replies. I have not seen any significant mention of it in the computing press. Perhaps Apple have taken the commercial decision not to spend money on curing such a small (as seen by them) proportionate problem, and one that they might believe as being the fault of third-party suppliers. Their share price is firm over the last 10 years. I for one have stopped yearning for a solution to the mouse problem. I don't know what tablet users can do.

Steve, I think that you've been dealing with Troll dribble. In my view Apple displays a recklessness indifference if not a conscious disregard for this endemic problem. Someday, I expect regulation of this industry to catch up with that of automobiles, appliances, and other consumer goods if we aren't ruled by corporations.

RobertBurnsOB wrote:

Steve, I think that you've been dealing with Troll dribble. In my view Apple displays a recklessness indifference if not a conscious disregard for this endemic problem. Someday, I expect regulation of this industry to catch up with that of automobiles, appliances, and other consumer goods if we aren't ruled by corporations.

The free market has already spoken. If you are unhappy with Apple's products, there are others to choose from.

We don't need a bunch of bureaucrats deciding what is acceptable behavior. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Works every time it is tried.

I am still having this issue, but for some reason it is not as bad as it was before. I use a mouse and a Wacom Intuos 5. The issue ONLY occurs when using my tablet and ONLY in photoshop. And now when the cursor dissappears I can move the (invisible) cursor to the bottom of the screen and then when I bring it back up, it reappears. This is in no way a solution for me but it has made my life a lot less frustrating. I am not sure exactly what I have done to make the problem slightly less but all my software (Java, Mountain Lion, Wacom etc) is up to date. And I use PS CS6.

I've reported this before. I am using a using (and have always used) a tethered mouse. I have also done everything on 11th_door's list except the Wacom part since I don't use Wacom. I also tried different (tethered) mouses. Nothing worked.

Like many here, I HAD the same problem. After about 3 years of my Mac working like a charm, my pointer disappeared or did crazy jumps on the screen. Just generally had a mind of its own. 3 nights ago, I completely lost any ability to use the pointer. I couldn't click on anything. I was furious. I shut my Mac down and thought I had the most expensive door stop. My warranty expired and it was a little over 3 years old (mid-2009 bought in 2010). I finally called Apple support and she told me to turn it on. I did. Signed in and son of a &^%$##, if the pointer didn't work. No reason at all. She still set me up for a free diagnostic which she stated that if they could find anything wrong, they would give me the price as to what it would cost to fix. However, since my pointer was functioning, it would be difficult to diagnose. So, I didn't make an appt and am waiting for this thing to go crazy again and then I'm shooting off to a Mac store for a free diagnostic.