Mouse pointer disappear on second monitor

[marc-denault]

Anybody has this problem with Photoshop CS6? :

Working with Wacom Intuos 3 graphic tablet and two screen, my mouse cursor disappears when I go to my second screen. This is just temporary since I only have to switch out of Photoshop and in again and the pointer is back, but since it happens  often, it becomes really anoying...

MacOSX 10.7.4, with graphic card ATI Radeon HD 5870

[owdgit]

Wasting your time mate, unplugged intuos3, removed software and purchased brand new intuos5! Still crap and yes the wifi still drops out! Mountain lion is the issue, all was well till the upgrade! If theres a problem with wacom or adobe no ones admitting it.  . . . . . Just need a solution.

Ps. . . . Since ML epson printer utilities and scanner are screwed . . . Thanks apple you cost me too much, too many times. . . . Pc will be delivered tomorrow and the mac will become a pc monitor as it will be no good for anything else.

[Guest]

I can add something to this discussion. I have been having the same problem: cursor disappears, mostly on second monitor, but sometimes on both. Intermittent in nature. I am using an Intuos 3 with the latest driver, on an iMac running 10.8.2.

    In my case, I had been getting other non-fatal irritations, usually starting after the iMac had been going awhile, which could be got rid of by zapping the PRAM. But how long can that go on, at 2-3 times per day? I called Applecare. The second-level tech first had me run disk Utility permissions and verification. Then he advised me to reduce my RAM to the original 4GB on Apple-tested sticks, see if the symptoms recurr, then re-insert the RAM I added one stick at a time, to nail down the culprit.

    That was it. I'm running fine for two days now on the original 4GB RAM, with none of the irritating problems I had before, including disappearing cursor. I'm not going to claim that will work forever or for everyone, but so far it has for me. Worth a try. New RAM is relatively inexpensive.

[eastwood27]

Interesting way of working out a very silly problem Birck.

How much ram did you have ?

Dont know much about iMacs , is 4 the max.

So i guese you started with 1 then progressed until you found the bad one?

How long did that take?

With a due respect but that Seems like a very lucky coincidence.

I have tried every thing.

Have a 5,1 mac pro with 24Gb of ram  running on a OWC Solid State drive.

With another OWC Solid State as a Scratch Drive and a 3tb drive in bay 3 and a 2tb in bay 4

Tried reinstalling everything twice ,if not more.

Formatted drives , cleaned computer, changed cables , disconected usb hub , Pram reset ,  took my tower to a mac repair to have checked all was ok.

Contacted Wacom  downloaded new driver ,you name it I tried it.

Still same problem.

Went from a intuis 4 to a 5 , same problem.

I do have two towers, one is a Mac Pro 2,1 with no problem running 10.7.5 , never had a problem with this machine.

Pen will wake computer, cursor never dissapears.

The Macpro 5,1 is the problem, both computers have the exact same mointors connected , its running on 8.2.

I my memory serves me right all problems started when I switched to Lion.

Has to be a software issue between Adobe/Mac/Wacom.

Feel like punching the monitor!!

[owdgit]

Hey guys . . I HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION!!!! This actually works!!!! Just bought a PC and shazam I can work again! Unfortunately the  iMac 27 cannot become a monitor due to conectivity issues so it looks like I'll be selling that heap of cr@p to some mug that needs a headache. Adobe, Wacom and PC = GOOD, Adobe, Wacom and Mac with mountain Lion = BAD!!!!

[Guest]

Dear Eastwood27,

     You were right. My "solution" didn't last very long. Things got worse until, with the iMac screwing up completely during a crucial job, I was able to buy a new one. When that one started screwing up, I isolated the problem to the Wacom tablet I had been using. I have two, both Intuos 3. With one, everything worked fine. Using the other, I was toast. So I sent it off to Wacom. They reported that the sensor screen or field needed to be replaced. It's due back today. I still get occasional disappearing cursors. I'm trying Imworkinghere's fix noted below. Whattheheck, I don't work in Flash myself yet. If I need it, I'll reinstall it. Fingers crossed.

[Michael_Crabb]

I too have the disappearing mouse issue. I think I had the bug all of a sudden during the last days of Lion (I could be wrong) and definitely happens since upgrading to Mountain Lion. I also have a wacom intuos 4 (which I rarely ever use) with the latest driver. Single monitor iMac and the pointer almost always dissappears when I roll over any pallets in CS 5 and will eventually dissappear anywhere in Photoshop or Illustrator and sometimes when using brushes in Lightroom too. If I move the pointer down to the dock and come back to a pallet the pointer stays visable briefly.

Who can work likt this?

[Noel Carboni]

It's no real surprise.  Lions love mice.

Wait, I think I may know where it's gone...  Your cursor has defected over to have a meeting with other cursors on the nearest PC!   Recall the PC problem where there is not one cursor but three!

-Noel

[Andres_Matallana]

Thanks for the laugh Noel... and quick! Someone get Owdgit a tranquilizer! We have to help him step away from the edge...    Man I've gone beyond the deep end and back myself!  As there's not solution in sight and nobody is taking accountability and or claim they have even heard of the problem... Because of that, I've been learning to work with a "crutch".  As Michael put it... as soon as I notice my pointer disappear, my hand automatically zooms the cursor left to the end of my screen where my dock sits and I zoom back and usually brings back my cursor.  It's not acceptable by any means, but keeps me from throwing the mouse into the wall. haha...

[marc-denault]

Same for me. Nothing has changed since I started this discussion.

Always the same problem with the cursor disapearing. Always the same reflex to make it appear again. For me the trick is "Cmd+Tab" twice, wich takes about half a second, but is still super anoying, and more anoying of all is that the situation happens so often that it inevitably also occurs when I'm showing my work on the screen to art directors or clients and I look kind of lost searching for my stupid cursor all the time.

Since I'm using Photoshop 90% of the time, I only noticed the problem there at first... But since then, it also happened a few times with Firefox, so still suspecting Wacom and Lion (and/or Mountain Lion).

Maybe I should look for a way to work with no cursor at all. Do they have Photoshop on the Xbox Kinect?

[_scott__]

It's the Mac OS....

I've been running a Mac Pro / ATI 5870 with 10.6.8 and a Wacom Intuos 5 for months with no issues.

I upgaded the system to Mac OS 10.7.4 this past week, now the cursor will vanish on my second or third monitor.

Seems to happen any time in any app, but most commonly when dragging items between monitors. Specificially dragging something from the primary monitor to the second or thrid screen. What I'm dragging doesn't vanish, but the cursor sure does. I see it in the Finder a lot and Indesign. All I need to do is click some other app to bring it forward, then switch back to the app I was using and the cursor reappears on the other montiors.

Note, the cursor never disappears from the primary monitor.

[Andres_Matallana]

Good to know Scott... I think we've all been leaning towards that conclusion and your experience helps to enforce that theory.  We should all go post on the Apple forum and submit claims to their support team. I've already submitted mine and even spoke to a tech who claimed he had never heard of the issue. Strange... aparently they don't follow up with issue being talked about on their site. 

Missing cursor forum string

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3210606?start=75&tstart=0

Apple support

https://expresslane.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.do?SG=SG001

[marc-denault]

lol

[CrazyDave88]

Same problem for most Photoshop pros -I finally had to use Lion / CS6 and my pen cursor keeps disappearing  on my second screen

The problem seems to be with the Finder and it strangley losing the cursor

After months of waiting for a fix from Apple---I think I have found a workaround

I put the dock on the left hand side of the second screen and turned hiding off

Seems to fix the problem so far---I think it helps photoshop and the finder to work better

Hope this works for you!

Cheers

[Imworkinghere]

As with every other problem, uninstalling Adobe Flash plugin from the system (or better yet, never installing it in the first place) resolves this problem.

[tennet78]

I am also having this annoying problem. The same with all of my co-workers at the office — except for one who is still running OSX 10.6.8. I use dual monitors on Mac Pro OSX 10.7.5, both at work and home. I use the Intuos 4 at home and the Intuos 3 at work, latest drivers — same problem. Thing is that this happens in other apps also, like Cinema 4D and Zbrush — as often. Cmd+Tab twice and the cursor is back, but as everyone says — it's annoying.

The disappearing-cursor-problem started when OSX Lion was released and it is still there in Mountain Lion. I don't understand why Apple won't address the problem and contact Wacom if it is "their" problem. Anyways, hope they will fix this stupid bug. Seems like such a simple thing...

[Mario Cajina]

This is happening to our retouchers.

1. Three of them are running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4, and one is still on Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

2. All four have Photoshop CS6 13.0.1 x64.

3. Two are using  Intuos 5, and two are using Intuos 3 tablets.

4. Two are using Wacom Tablet software 6.3.2w4. The other two are using 6.3.1w2, and 6.3.3-3 respectively.

5. All four machines are Mac Pro 5,1

Two of the retouchers said that it was also occurring (though not as often), with Photoshop CS5.5 and CS5. The only common thread is Photoshop. However, it can be the way Mac OS draws Photoshop's UI on the screen.

I'm having them try CrazyDave88's workaround from Post #36.

Message was edited by: Mario Cajina

[SugarDigitalLLC]

We are having the same problem, with the same parameters:  CS6 on Lion or Mt. Lion.  It happens across a variety of Wacom tablets.

Some things I haven't seen mentioned to date in this thread:

At our studio everyone has 2 monitors, so the disappearance happens as the cursor crosses over onto the second monitor (and occasionally upon moving from the second to the first.)

At home I have one monitor, and here my cursor just vanishes.

One observation that might help the programmers:  If my cursor vanishes when I am on a 400 pixel brush (as it just did moment ago) I can get it to come back on any brush size larger than 400.  It is invisible below that.  If I switch to a different brush (from paint to clone, for instance) the disappearance remains consistent across brush sizes.  400 remains the threshold.  Above, it is there, below it vanishes.  Other tools (move, marquee, lasso, pen, etc.) remain invisible. 

For those experiencing this for the first time the easiest workaround is quickly command tabbing out of PS and then command tabbing back in.  Annoying as hell, but it's the fastest way I've found to bring the cursor back.

[Guest]

Crazy Dave's workaround helps me, and I have also found that, if I lose the cursor in the middle of a job, all I need to do is slide over and poke the Photoshop

dock icon and it comes back. But, you're right, it slows things down & is a pain in butt.

[thinksinc]

I'm having the disappearing cursor issue as well. For me it's specific to Photoshop, it doesn't occur anywhere else in OS X. I have a total of 4 screens on my Macbook Pro with Retina (including the laptop display itself), and the cursor ONLY disappears on my secondary display, which is where I keep all my Photoshop palettes. I've never had it disappear on any of the other displays.

I do NOT have Wacom drivers installed. I'm running OS X 10.7.5, and have the latest version of CS6 installed.

I was having to quit and restart Photoshop every time it happened, until I discovered a faster workaround: when your cursor disappears, reset your Workspace (Window > Workspace > Reset [workspace name]) and the cursor immediately returns (resetting does not ruin your palettes, it just restores them to the state you saved them in, kind of like a refresh.)

This leads me to believe it's a an Adobe/Photoshop bug, not necessarily something system-level with OS X, though of course there may be some relation. Never had this happen in CS5.

-R

[johanhellstrom]

There is a known problem with running Firefox with a Wacom tablet.

Make sure the clients quit Firefox and see if that makes it better.

[marc-denault]

Thanks for your answer johanhellstrom, but no unfortunately the solution is not that simple, sorry.

I spoke to many people working with two screens in the graphic industry and absolutely ALL of them have this problem, but many of them only une Safari or Chrome for internet.

About Photoshop:

Having this problem around since a long time now, we now know that it can occur in any software... Not only Photoshop as I first mentioned when I started the discussion (my mistake). Some people experience it in their internet browser, others in 3D softwares such as Modo, others in Photoshop, Word, wathever... Maybe it's just that we notice it in the software we use the most?

Solutions:

Nothing that is a real complete and effective solution for now apparently. All we seem to have are workarounds to make it less anoying.

I did a clean install of everyting on a new hard drive (new system, new softwares and new drivers)... Didn't change a thing for me. Actually no, it's worst because now the cursor is disappearing on both of my monitors.

Apple, Wacom, anybody, please help! This is so much a pain in the butt and not professional!!!

My guess is that it's a OS problem because apparently some of you have this situation working with a mouse and only one screen?! But what do I know, I'm just a production guy and graphic artist... 😉

M.

[marksey777]

I can't imagine a more annoying problem. Is it possible to visit a local Apple store? It seems some people had this problem and solved it with a fresh istall of Mountain Lion. I'm not much help when it comes to Mac but from reading I'm seeing this is a possible Apple issue and not Adobe so you could try the store if you have one local or the Apple forums?

[dgibbphoto]

A clean install of Mountain Lion and a backup from time machine did the trick for me.  Been running one week without a disappearing cursor.

iMac 27" 10.8.2 ML.

[bzimo]

I am not using two monitors together but I do have a MacBookPro with MacOS 10.8.2 and just purchased a Wacom Intuos 5 touch. I can't even get the Wacom drivers to load onto the laptop. I've contacted both Apple and Wacom support. For a while they were just pointing fingers at each other and both claiming everything should work fine and other guy needs to help me.  Finally an Apple tech says all he could find in the Wacom literature was compatibility with version OS 10.7, and that it is probably not compatible with 10.8.2 even though Wacom insists it is.  The compromise suggested by Apple guy is to partition 20% of the internal HD and load the earlier OS onto it and run the tablet from there. It appears that other software, Adobe or otherwise, may not really have anything to do with the various disappearing mouse problems. It is a Mac + Wacom compatibility problem, I'd say.  David Gibb do you mean you were running 10.8.2 but you reloaded it and magically the cursor works properly?  I am not keen on partitioning and loading another OS, I am already running at 75% capacity on the internal drive. Neither am I keen on going through the process of reloading 10.8.2 since so far everything else about this computer works fine.

[Kuzumm]

I'm having the same exact problem in windows 10 but it's only with photoshop; I can draw in paint tool sai perfectly but when I open photoshop it jumps my mouse to my other monitor and sometimes does a weird thing where if I click it jumps between monitors but when I move my mouse it always favors the wrong monitor.