Ubuntu

Mouse Pointer Jumping About in Ubuntu 20.04

Asked by Charles Brittain

Now that I have loaded Ubuntu 20.04 to dual-boot on a Packard Bell with Windows 10 Home 64-bit, I am unable to stop the mouse pointer from jumping around and leaving a trail of flickering pointers wherever the pointer has gone. When I hover over a button, the pointer jumps around so much, clicking on a button becomes very much a hit and miss affair. Meanwhile, an unmoving pointer sits at the bottom right of the screen, while I am moving the second pointer around the screen.

How do I fix this please? Is it a mouse driver software issue?

My xinput is as follows:

Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ PixArt USB Optical Mouse id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ USB Wired Keyboard Consumer Control id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ USB Wired Keyboard id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ USB Wired Keyboard System Control id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ USB Wired Keyboard Consumer Control id=14 [slave keyboard (3)]

I'm shooting in the dark here. I've unplugged the USB mouse and, after plugging it back in, there was no change. I have unplugged the mouse from a USB 3 and plugged it into a USB 2 with no effect.

The output of, sudo dmidecode -t 1, is as follows:

# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.8 present.

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Packard Bell
Product Name: iMedia S2984
Version:
Serial Number: DTU96EK00360103D0F3000
UUID: 84edd4a2-b457-11e5-9b1f-98eecb2ca5dd
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number:
Family: Packard Bell Desktop

The output of, lsb_release -a; uname -a; lsusb, is as follows:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
Linux charlesb2t-iMedia-S2984 5.4.0-37-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 3 18:57:02 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:0153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC) Card Reader
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0461:4e6f Primax Electronics, Ltd Acer Wired Keyboard Model KBAY211
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 0461:4e70 Primax Electronics, Ltd USB Optical Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I'm shooting in the dark here. I've unplugged the USB mouse and, after plugging it back in, there was no change. I'm at a loss in trying to stop the mouse pointer from dancing around after loading up Ubuntu 20.04. I have unplugged the mouse from a USB 3 and plugged it into a USB 2 with no effect.

I am unable to find any help on this matter and no help is forthcoming either in, https://askubuntu.com/questions/1248844/mouse-pointer-jumps-about-in-ubuntu-20-04-dual-boot-with-windows-10, or in, https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2445267. I presume it is because there are not many users of Ubuntu 20.04 out there.

I cannot work out what mouse driver I can download that will stop the infuriating dancing mouse pointer and its dead partner left in the bottom right corner.

Any help will be very gratefully received. Thank you.

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Charles Brittain
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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

What is the output of:

sudo dmidecode -t 1

Do you have the latest BIOS?

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#2

The out put of, $ sudo dmidecode -t 1, is as follows:

# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.8 present.

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
 Manufacturer: Packard Bell
 Product Name: iMedia S2984
 Version:
 Serial Number: DTU96EK00360103D0F3000
 UUID: 84edd4a2-b457-11e5-9b1f-98eecb2ca5dd
 Wake-up Type: Power Switch
 SKU Number:
 Family: Packard Bell Desktop

I'm not sure how to check whether I have the latest BIOS. Sorry.

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#3

Checked BIOS firmware version in Linux:

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
R01-A4

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#4

All bios related info:

$ sudo dmidecode --type bios
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.8 present.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
 Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
 Version: R01-A4
 Release Date: 11/03/2015
 Address: 0xF0000
 Runtime Size: 64 kB
 ROM Size: 5120 kB
 Characteristics:
  PCI is supported
  BIOS is upgradeable
  BIOS shadowing is allowed
  Boot from CD is supported
  Selectable boot is supported
  BIOS ROM is socketed
  EDD is supported
  5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
  3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
  3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
  Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
  8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
  Serial services are supported (int 14h)
  Printer services are supported (int 17h)
  ACPI is supported
  USB legacy is supported
  BIOS boot specification is supported
  Targeted content distribution is supported
  UEFI is supported
 BIOS Revision: 5.11

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#5

Check manufacturers website for the BIOS. If it's newer than the one you have (may have to enter setup to check the version) then update it.

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#6

It looks as though the BIOS is the same version. It has not been changed since 2016 when I bought the machine.

However, in:
http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

under:
0461 Primax Electronics

There is no mention of:
4e70 USB Optical Mouse,

But, there is:
4e6f Acer Wired Keyboard Model KBAY211,
which is not throwing up any problems.

Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#7

Are you using a USB mouse? Is it plugged into a USB hub? If so, unplug the hub and connect directly to the tower. Have you tried the front USB as well to show it is not specific to the USB ports you are using (I assume you are using rear USB for the mouse0. Do you have another USB mouse you can test as well. Does it jump with that too (Borrow a friends if you don't have another one).

Is the mouse that you have a wired mouse or is it a wireless one?

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#8

Yes, I am using a USB mouse and it is plugged straight into the tower. I used to have it plugged into the rear and I did replug it to the front, but it didn't make any difference whatsoever. It does look as though I need to try another mouse.

I'll get back to you.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#9

its worth trying just to see if it's the mouse itself. If it's the same with a different mouse then it rules it out as a cause

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#10

For now, I am trying a Wireless Optical Mouse by Xenta, but it is still a problem:

$ lsb_release -a; uname -a; lsusb

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
Linux charlesb2t-iMedia-S2984 5.4.0-37-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 3 18:57:02 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:0153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC) Card Reader
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0461:4e6f Primax Electronics, Ltd Acer Wired Keyboard Model KBAY211
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1d57:0008 Xenta 2.4G Wireless Optical Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Revision history for this message
Bernard Stafford (bernard010) said : 		#11

Does the tower have a PS2 mouse connector in the back of the tower? If so try a PS2 connector mouse or the USB to PS2 Adapter.

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#12

Sorry, there are no PS/2 ports on the tower.

I am going to try and get a mouse from this list: http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

The thinking is that my keyboard is on the list and it works fine, but the mouse is not on the list and it doesn't work fine.

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#13

So, I've now plugged in a "Kensington Mouse-in-a-Box" Wired Optical USB Mouse and the PC has identified it as a 093a:2510 Pixart Imaging, Inc. Optical Mouse (not 4d03 Mouse-in-a-box), but the mouse is on the Linux USB IDs List.

However, this different mouse is still showing the same behaviour of jumping the mouse-pointer about; leaving a trail of flickering mouse-pointers wherever one has passed the mouse-pointer; and then there's still another stationary mouse-pointer at the bottom-right of the screen. So, what now?

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#14

The issue seems to be that I have two monitors plugged in. If the tower only has the one monitor plugged in, the mouse is perfectly behaved.

However, I need two screens / monitors for my work.

Revision history for this message
Charles Brittain (charlesb2t) said : 		#15

So, all I've solved here is:

1. It's not down to a dual-boot setup with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.04
2. It's not down to an incompatible mouse driver

However, the problem of the jumping mouse-pointer occurs as soon as I connect another monitor to my PC - https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/display-dual-monitors.html