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Mouse Cursor Misplacement with External Monitor

Hello everyone,


After I updated to macOS Sierra, when my MacBook Pro connects to my external monitor, I find it hard to aim my mouse cursor to the window edges. Normally when I put the cursor at the edge of a window, the cursor should turn to the two-arrow shape that allows me to resize the window. Though now on an external monitor, when the cursor is just close to the window edge, its shape changes; but when it's close enough that normally it should change the shape, it changes back to the arrow pointer. This makes it hard to aim the cursor.


Though I've found a workaround: plug the external monitor when the computer is awake. If I plug the monitor when the computer is off or sleeping, the issue will always happen when I open/wake the computer.


This happens only after updated to macOS Sierra and only on my external monitor. The built-in one is always fine, whether with an external one plugged or not.


My MacBook Pro is Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014 one, with 2.5GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB Ram, also with a discrete GPU.


Anyone having the same problem?


Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12), 2.5GHz, 16G RAM, dGPU

Posted on Oct 8, 2016 6:58 PM

Reply
55 replies

Jan 18, 2017 3:31 AM in response to Eli Wang

I've done some testing.


The DELL UP2415Q and UP2715Q work correctly without any issues on macOS Sierra - even when using MST mode.


On the new MacBook 15" 2016, the UP2414Q does not work at all (with MST mode) - that is probably due to different implementation of Thunderbolt 3 alternate mode (DP) - no native Apple adapter to support it, I've used Logilink one.

Although on the same adapter (Logilink USB-C do DisplayPort) the UP2715Q work correctly with 4k@60Hz with MST.


So it seems that there is combination with bad implementation of MST in DELL 2x14 series plus bugs in macOS Sierra.


Guess there is no hope for quick fix...


Br, Pawel.

Feb 28, 2017 12:16 AM in response to Eli Wang

we're at 10.12.4 Beta (16E175b) - and still NOT solved...


Looks like this will not be solved. It looks now that Apple will not willingly fix this. Either engineers are not aware of this or it simply doesn't affect too many people to be "significant" enough.


The only hope is that maybe someday other changes might mitigate this issue.


Very sad, as it mainly affects working professionals.

Mar 27, 2017 9:14 AM in response to Eli Wang

I just upgraded to Sierra and totally regret it. I have the Dell UP3214Q and freakin' love the monitor. But, ever since I put Sierra on My MBPr, the left side of the display works great but the right side of the display has cursor issues BIG TIME. Anyone ever find a solution? I have no idea where I can even get El Capitan from now. This is a total deal breaker. Any advice?

Aug 15, 2017 2:48 AM in response to Eli Wang

Dear folks, I forgot to mention that, several weeks ago I got an email from Apple. In which they wrote that, this issue was fixed in the latest 10.13 beta. They asked me to install the beta macOS to see it. Though I did not install the beta macOS, maybe some of you could verify this.


I got that email because I created an issue in Apple's bug tracker.


Wish this could help.

Oct 16, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Eli Wang

I have this exact same issue. My MacBook Pro cursor and screen windows work fine. On both a Dell UP2414Q or a Dell UP3214Q external monitor, as the cursor is positioned at the corner of a window, the cursor alignment is off and the cursor changes to odd shapes. Also when I'm in an application like Adobe Lightroom, the cursor on the external monitor will change to a strange shape (icon) when I'm grabbing a scrolling bar or attempting to click on an action link.


Sometimes the cursor changes to a hand shape, and sometimes I can guess where the active portion of the cursor is located.


OS X 10.11never had these issues. macOS 10.12 has issues with external monitor cursor position.


I haven't found a work around. Tried using the Accessibility control panel, but limited success.

Larry

Oct 19, 2016 4:06 PM in response to PhotoCamGuy

Correction, my problem is not solved. Cursor alignment is off with my external Dell UP2414Q using Safari. As position cursor in the lower right corner, the expand icon doesn't show up till moving the cursor away from the window. Also the cursor changes to a strange icon (if the window is dragged to the main screen of the MacBook Pro, the cursor works properly). Dang the window back to external monitor and cursor alignment is not correct. Tested with 10.12.1.

Oct 19, 2016 8:14 PM in response to PhotoCamGuy

I have the exact same monitor as you do: Dell UP2414Q. I tried once to boot into safe mode, but failed. The computer just turned black screen. Then I was able to boot into normal mode. I'm kind of busy for the moment so I'll try safe mode again later.


Though I don't think my startup items have any problems. I have only one there: AdobeResourceSynchronizer which doesn't seem to affect any monitor related issues.

Oct 25, 2016 8:23 PM in response to Eli Wang

One more data point to add to the Sierra+mouse pointer problem. I've got the same issue, and a few others, too.


Perhaps the most annoying one is that on the external monitor (Dell UP2715K) the mouse pointer will jump about 1/4" up and to the left when coming up to hover over a link in Chrome. At the moment, I can't reproduce this jump in Safari or Firefox.


My Logitech USB mouse no longer scrolls reliably - if I move the wheel slowly, nothing will happen for about 1/2 of the wheel's rotation. I've now eliminated that mouse and I'm using a Bluetooth Apple Magic Mouse.


The mouse pointer will take one shape, text select, for example, and it will not change back to a normal pointer on the desktop until I switch over to another application.


At random spots on the screen, the mouse pointer will change from the normal arrow pointer to the hand pointer - moving it left and right over an invisible line changes its shape - to the left is a hand and to the right is an arrow. Stop directly over that invisible line and the pointer will be half-arrow and half-hand.


While typing this post and performing all of the things above, I was only able to replicate it in Chrome on the external screen. Moving the Chrome window to the Mac's built-in display seems to eliminate the problematic behavior. I will post an update if I encounter anything different.


MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB, Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB, Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2555), Dell UP2715K.

Mouse Cursor Misplacement with External Monitor

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