Eraser Tool - Crosshair instead of circle

[Jaden23715395t23p]

Hi there, I've been using photoshop for years and have never had this issue before. Everything was working fine until suddenly my eraser tool seemed to appear as a crosshair rather than the normal circle cursor I usually see. When I apply it to my photo, it erases the whole subject matter rather than the particular area I am applying it to. I have tried the CAPS Lock thing, I've tried to adjust the cursor in preferences, restart the app but nothing seems to work. Any help would be much appreciated as I have an assignment due soon. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Have you reset the Tool yet? 

Could you please post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible? 

[Jaden23715395t23p]

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Please don’t just post snippets but »screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible« – simply the whole screen for example. 

What have you done for all-purpose trouble-shooting so far? 

Restoring Preferences after making sure all customized presets like Actions, Patterns, Brushes etc. have been saved might be a good starting point:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/basic-trouble-shooting-steps.html

[Jaden23715395t23p]

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, you get that cursor when the brush you want to use is bigger than what can be shown on screen. and you r explanation seems to corellate that. What is the brush set to?

[shankarhokie]

This was my situation. The brush was set to 5000 for some reason. Scaling it back to 50 got me a circle back.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Check to see if the Caps Lock is on. If it is, undo it.

[Laurie34204943wfhx]

Did you ever solve this issue...I'm having the same thing with the crosshair rather than circle and it's making me crazy!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you please post screenshots to clarify what you get, what you want, what the settings are? 

[Laurie34204943wfhx]

Thanks for responding.  I had already checked cap locks and all of the usual issues, but no matter what I did I could not get rid of the crosshair cursor.  I also checked the cursor and it had normal brush tip selected.  I finally deleted photoshop and re-uploaded and then re-set tools and that finally did the trick.

[PECourtejoie]

Hi, some users reported that they had a laptop with an external keyboard, and that the caps lock was on the (closed) laptop. 

But then, other tools would be affected.

Before deleting photoshop, try a right-click of the tool icon in the option bar, and select "reset tool"

[leob39214875]

this was my issue as well, but the closed laptop (plugged into a dock) with caps lock on was the fix for me, thanks PECourtejoie

[shankarhokie]

My brush size was set to 5000 and that was the issue, I set it back to 50 and I got the circle back