Mouse Cursor Misplacement with External Monitor

I have exactly the same problem with my Dell UP2414Q monitor.

No change after upgrade to 10.12.1. With all OS X releases this worked well.

Of course problem disappears when monitor is switched to DP 1.1 mode (30Hz instead of 60Hz), but working with 30Hz refresh is not an option for longer work.

It is surely problem with DP 1.2 MultiStream transport screen alignment.

Br,Pawel.

Pawel, in my case the 60Hz refresh remains on the external Dell display while I have the MacBook Pro open, so 30Hz vs. 60Hz doesn't seem to be the issue on my hardware.

The 60Hz/30Hz case is a "side effect". The problem appears when DisplayPort is using MST (MultiStream Transport), which is available in DP version 1.2.

On 4K displays using DP the MST is the only way to get 60Hz refresh rate.

br,pawel.

I agree with Pawel. When I turn off DisplayPort 1.2 on my Dell UP2414Q, the cursor position operates correctly (display in 3840 x 2160 30Hz). When I enable DisplayPort 1.2 (MST), the problems with cursor position return (display in 3840 x 2160 60Hz).

Larry

Possible temporary workaround for cursor misalignment on my Dell UP2414Q:

I discovered that if I went to System Preferences, Displays, selected the Dell Monitor, on the Color tab, specified the color calibrated settings that I want, upon returning to the desktop apps, the cursor was behaving normal. However, if the system was in sleep mode, there is no assurance that the cursor behavior is normal and I may have to repeat this process. But this is a temporary fix and I have my DisplayPort 1.2 enabled and the display is in 3840 x 2160 60Hz.

10.12.2 beta doesn't solve the problem either.

Similar to PhotoCamGuy, I discovered that I can temporarily fix the problem by relocating the menu bar in the Displays > Arrangement preference pane. It seems to be random as I have to do it several times while dragging the Chrome browser window from the UP2715K monitor to the MacBook's LCD and back.

Once the system goes into sleep mode, the problem is back and I need to do the shuffle again to fix it. Other times the problem will resurface even without going to sleep mode.

I have exactly the same issue with a late 2013 MacBook Pro 15 connected to a Dell UP24214Q monitor. Yesterday I found a newer version of this monitor (Dell P2415Q) in the office, connected my MacBook and the problem was gone. To confirm this behaviour I switched between the UP2414Q and the P2415Q a few times and was able to reproduce the mouse cursor problems on the first monitor.

I can also confirm that switching to 30Hz on the UP2414Q solves the problem as well, but is not an option for real work.

That's pretty interesting. Did the UP2415Q used DisplayPort 1.2 and was using 60Hz?

I was sure the problem is generally related to DP 1.2 MST feature not specific display.

Br, Pawel.

Hi Pawel,

I can confirm that the P2415Q uses DisplayPort 1.2 and runs at 60Hz.

Grt, Erwin

Ok, so that gets a bit strange. It is not directly related to bad handling of DP 1.2 MST but it is bound to specific display type. Unfortunately less chance to get it fixed 😟

Br, Pawel.

Just double checked the ports and resolution/refresh when I came in the office this morning. It's running 3840x2160 at 60Hz and using the DP connection. Interestingly there is a MST setting as well, which is turned off at this moment. For testing I turned it on, which didn't affect the mouse behaviour or refresh rate (stayed at 60Hz). The MST setting on this display gives me 3 options: off, primary and secondary. So I believe that has something to do with the ability to connect a second display through the DP-out port on this one (didn't test that yet).

If you want me to test some other settings or connections, please let me know. I have both types of display available for testing and the mouse cursor placement issue is really easy to reproduce (and, for me, totally unworkable).

I'm in the exact same situation. Late 2013 macbook pro, UP2414Q. I played a bit with the "solutions" that have been mentioned here (changing color profiles for example) but the issue always resurfaces.

It's extremely bothering when using the interface builder in Xcode - the switch between the arrow & the hand happens all the time, and it prevents me from selecting controls accurately. The cursor is actually offset to the bottom right from a fixed amount that doesn't seem to change. The "real" position of the cursor is the same on both halves of the screen, except on the right side the hotspot isn't lined up with the cursor as it should (tip of the arrow, center of the hand, etc)

Leaving the cursor right in the middle of the screen shows both "versions":

I actually reinstalled the whole OS from scratch to see if it was something related to a bad driver that I had from previous OS versions - no. A pristine version of Sierra exhibits the issue right away.

As a software engineer, the fact that it used to work with El Capitan and started to be buggy with Sierra gives a starting point for trying to figure it out. I know the handling of 4K screens has been something complicated to handle with they first got released because of the lack of bandwidth in the HDMI specs.

Another thing I haven't seen reported: if I let the cursor stay long enough (and it goes from 0.2s to maybe 15 seconds max), it fixes itself. But alt-tabbing to another app usually makes the issue come back.

Side note: If I use "mirror displays" instead of extending the desktop, the cursor shows properly on the macbook display but not on the external one. So it's not really mirroring, the video card is actually handling the 2 screens independently? I noticed that the macbook runs hotter when it's opened (and therefore has to show something on its lcd) instead of in clamshell mode.

Simply opening / closing the lid triggers the cursor again (seems the video card resets itself when that happens, external screen goes black for a second)

Hi,

I've also opened a bug report, sent the diagnostic data and today I've received information that my case was closed as this is duplicate of another one (which is already closed).

I cannot access the original case but searching internet revealed that other people also get cases close with relation to that case - what is interesting it was not related to mouse problems but fact that macOS Sierra is not recognizing correctly some 4K displays.

Br, Pawel.