Mouse Pointer starts and stops and starts

Support
,
1

My mouse had been working until recently. I was hoping an update would fix it, but it has not.

As I move the mouse around in my Stable installation GUI, it works most of the time, but then, on a regular basis while I am moving the mouse across the screen, the pointer stops, even though I am moving the mouse.

I try to shake it back and forth small amounts but the pointer does not move. If I shake the mouse back and forth a lot, (large movements,) then it seems to wake up for a second but not enough for me to get it over a button or control, so I go through the shaking again and again, then it will start allowing detailed movement again for a long while, then it will stop again.

I do not know how to diagnose it much but here is the basics:

inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host
System:    Kernel: 5.8.11-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.8-x86_64 root=UUID=3d96d0d8-ce6c-403c-bf6a-f35f7bcfd655 rw quiet 
           apparmor=1 security=apparmor resume=UUID=e0b067e4-e8a9-493e-a687-61168dcc472f udev.log_priority=3 
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.19.5 tk: Qt 5.15.1 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter> 
           UEFI: American Megatrends v: 2901 date: 05/04/2016 
Battery:   Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech K800 serial: <filter> charge: 70% (should be ignored) 
           rechargeable: yes status: Full 
           Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 2S serial: <filter> 
           charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
Memory:    RAM: total: 15.53 GiB used: 5.95 GiB (38.3%) 
           RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:       Topology: 8-Core model: AMD FX-9370 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Bulldozer family: 15 (21) model-id: 2 
           stepping: N/A microcode: 6000852 L2 cache: 2048 KiB bogomips: 76316 
           Speed: 1824 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1824 2: 1988 3: 3134 4: 4192 5: 2352 6: 4218 7: 4025 
           8: 4405 
           Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm aes aperfmperf apic arat avx bmi1 clflush cmov cmp_legacy constant_tsc cpb cpuid 
           cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid fma fma4 fpu fxsr fxsr_opt ht 
           hw_pstate ibpb ibs lahf_lm lbrv lm mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor msr mtrr nodeid_msr nonstop_tsc 
           nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge 
           pni popcnt pse pse36 rdtscp rep_good sep skinit ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm svm_lock 
           syscall tbm tce topoext tsc tsc_scale vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wdt xop xsave 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Pitcairn XT [Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition] vendor: XFX Pine 
           driver: radeon v: kernel alternate: amdgpu bus ID: 07:00.0 chip ID: 1002:6818 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: radeon FAILED: ati unloaded: modesetting 
           alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1016x285mm (40.0x11.2") s-diag: 1055mm (41.5") 
           Monitor-1: DisplayPort-0 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 70 size: 698x393mm (27.5x15.5") diag: 801mm (31.5") 
           Monitor-2: DisplayPort-1 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 70 size: 698x393mm (27.5x15.5") diag: 801mm (31.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.50.0 5.8.11-1-MANJARO LLVM 10.0.1) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.1.8 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1002:4383 
           Device-2: AMD Oland/Hainan/Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7000 Series] vendor: XFX Pine 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 07:00.1 chip ID: 1002:aab0 
           Device-3: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus ID: 5-2:2 
           chip ID: 046d:082d serial: <filter> 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.8.11-1-MANJARO 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK P8 series driver: r8169 
           v: kernel port: b000 bus ID: 0a:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: enp10s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: <filter> 
           IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
           IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
           IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
           WAN IP: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 2.73 TiB used: 375.65 GiB (13.4%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Smart Modular Tech. model: SHGS31-1000GS-2 size: 931.51 GiB block size: 
           physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 0Q00 scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Extreme SSD size: 1.82 TiB block size: physical: 512 B 
           logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 1012 scheme: MBR 
           SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure? 
           Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: ATAPI model: iHAS124 W rev: HL05 dev-links: cdrom 
           Features: speed: 125 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running 
RAID:      Message: No RAID data was found. 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 911.48 GiB size: 896.17 GiB (98.32%) used: 375.63 GiB (41.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 
           label: N/A uuid: 3d96d0d8-ce6c-403c-bf6a-f35f7bcfd655 
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw size: 512.0 MiB size: 511.0 MiB (99.80%) used: 280 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 
           label: N/A uuid: 493E-3CA7 
           ID-3: /run/timeshift/backup raw size: 911.48 GiB size: <superuser/root required> 
           used: <superuser/root required> fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 label: N/A 
           uuid: 3d96d0d8-ce6c-403c-bf6a-f35f7bcfd655 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 19.53 GiB used: 13.2 MiB (0.1%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda2 label: N/A 
           uuid: e0b067e4-e8a9-493e-a687-61168dcc472f 
Unmounted: ID-1: /dev/sdb1 size: 1.82 TiB fs: exfat label: Extreme SSD uuid: 44C9-F760 
USB:       Hub: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Device-1: 2-1:2 info: Logitech Unifying Receiver type: Keyboard,Mouse,HID 
           driver: logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s chip ID: 046d:c52b 
           Hub: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0003 
           Hub: 5-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Device-1: 5-2:2 info: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: Video,Audio driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
           interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 046d:082d serial: <filter> 
           Hub: 6-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 7-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0003 
           Device-1: 7-1:2 info: SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD type: Mass Storage driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 
           rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s chip ID: 0781:558c serial: <filter> 
           Hub: 8-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0002 
           Hub: 9-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 10-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0003 
           Hub: 11-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 12-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Hub: 13-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip ID: 1d6b:0001 
           Device-1: 13-4:2 info: Corsair Controller for Corsair Link type: <vendor specific> driver: cp210x 
           interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip ID: 1b1c:1c00 serial: <filter> 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 38.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 44 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 309 Uptime: 45m Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: 1437 pacman: 1417 
           lib: 388 flatpak: 12 snap: 8 Shell: Bash v: 5.0.18 running in: konsole inxi: 3.1.05
2

Hello,

Does this happen with a different Mouse? If the cord is affected, then no updates will fix that, but we can’t know if that might be the issue. Do you have TLP installed/active? You either change the TLP settings for that USB port, or remove TLP completely, might help.

3

If it’s a wireless mouse - check batteries.

4

@bogdancovaciu I am not sure what that is, but I am interested to know.
It looks like some sort of Power thing from here.

I am not sure how to know if it is installed.

This is a wireless mouse. I do not have another to try right now, but I will try to get one. However, the battery should not be a problem as it is rechargeable and shows a full charge.

[EDIT]
I have another wireless mouse I am trying. (Kept old one plugged in on USB receiver, but turned the mouse off.)
It has not misbehaved yet, but since the behavior was intermittent it will take a bit anyway.

5

Ask the package manager:

$ pacman -Qi tlp

This also adds radio interference to the list of possibilities.

6 
$ pacman -Qi tlp
Name            : tlp
Version         : 1.3.1-2
Description     : Linux Advanced Power Management
Architecture    : any
URL             : https://linrunner.de/en/tlp/tlp.html
Licenses        : GPL2
Groups          : None
Provides        : None
Depends On      : hdparm  iw  pciutils  perl  rfkill  usbutils  util-linux
Optional Deps   : acpi_call: ThinkPad battery functions, Sandy Bridge and newer
                  bash-completion: Bash completion
                  ethtool: Disable Wake On Lan
                  lsb-release: Display LSB release version in tlp-stat [installed]
                  smartmontools: Display S.M.A.R.T. data in tlp-stat [installed]
                  tp_smapi: ThinkPad battery functions
                  x86_energy_perf_policy: Set energy versus performance policy on x86 processors
Required By     : None
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : laptop-mode-tools  pm-utils
Replaces        : None
Installed Size  : 261.82 KiB
Packager        : Bernhard Landauer <oberon@manjaro.org>
Build Date      : Tue 11 Feb 2020 10:32:29 AM EST
Install Date    : Sun 26 Apr 2020 02:24:11 AM EDT
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : Yes
Validated By    : Signature
7

This is so infuriating… because it is intermittent.

I switched to a different mouse and had no issues for days. So I thought I would switch back to my preferred mouse. All went well, FOR DAYS!

So I do not know what the problem was or if it has been resolved.

Any thoughts on how I can check anything further? Or should I “leave well-enough alone”, and smile into the days ahead, hoping for no further issues?

Thanx all!

8

I have been actively using my old mouse (the one with the problem) for about a week now, and the previous problems seem to be gone.

I have gone through the latest Manjaro update, so it is possible that had an impact.

Other than that I do not have any idea why this happened or how it was solved. But thank you all for your responses and attempt to help.

9

I believe this will be my last entry on this thread. Not because I have completely solved the issue, but because I believe I have at least come to see part of the cause.

Though the wireless interference is something that I should watch for, I think it is something that has come about due to USB device fighting… That is my technical term.

I have noticed these things:

  1. When I have a certain wireless mouse attached and working AND
  2. When I have some other USB devices attached, (Like a SanDisk Extreme USB external SSD)

…I see this behavior described above, where the mouse will momentarily start and stop.

As soon as I switch the mouse or remove the USB device, the issue seems to leave.

I can assume that a more knowledgeable Linux person could make some adjustments and be done with the issue, but that does not describe me!

If anyone knows how I can properly configure my machine to avoid these conflicts, I would really appreciate to know how.

Thanx all!