Windows 8: terrible cursor appears seemingly at random

I can't get a screenshot because cursors are the only things that DON'T appear in those, but, seemingly at random, this awful long cursor replaces the regular cursor. I tried to draw it in Paint but it's hard for me to know where exactly the cursor is pointing! My attempt to draw the cursor in Paint.

This cursor has other states too: it substitutes a bunch of upward arrows in a vertical line for a hand cursor, a ladder with a bunch of diagonal lines sticking out and pointing down on either side for a resize window cursor, etc.

Eventually, if I right-click/control-click enough, it goes away, but not before my monitors go black for a second, and the computer seems to freak out a little bit (like it's redrawing stuff, but I I may just be making that up).

What is this? Is it actually a built-in feature that's trying to help me in some way? How do I get it to go away permanently? If it's relevant, I'm remoting into the computer this is occurring on.

user460847

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 195

Answers

Sounds like a graphics driver crashing based on the black screen and full redraw - look for a pop-up in the notification area next time it happens. In the meantime, check for updated graphics drivers for your graphics card.

Graham Wager

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 10 589

I'll do that the next time it happens. Thanks! – user460847 – 2012-11-14T19:01:25.527

Yeah, it happened again, and when I minimized the computer window I was remoted into, the screens went black and the cursor returned to normal. Then I saw a message in the notification center saying that a graphics driver had crashed and then recovered. Unfortunately when I clicked the message it went away instead of opening up to give more details... ah well. I'll investigate more next time. Thanks! – user460847 – 2012-11-15T14:59:59.910

2Thought that was probably it. Unfortunately it doesn't give any more details than that, although you may find something in the Event Viewer and it may appear in the Action Centre to allow a report to be sent. – Graham Wager – 2012-11-15T15:22:48.217

I just had this issue and I was able to fix it by quickly shaking the mouse back and forth on the screen that was having the issue. Based on my symptoms and this forum link, I would say it has something to do with the graphics card/driver. I didn't update my drivers, though, and I have not had the issue again.

I have a three monitor setup and the cursor was only messed up on one of them - as I would move the cursor between the different monitors, it would go back to normal on two of the screens, and appear as the glitch on the one. I'm not sure if it was necessary that I shake it on the screen having the issue, but that's where I tried it and it went away.

tehDorf

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 697

It's a bug in the AMD/ATI software and it's been there for some time.

If you need a quick fix and restarting isn't an option, go to Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options > enable Display Trails. Then disable after restart to maintain your sanity.

Eddie

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 141

This works, but as soon as you disable it (no restart), it looks weird again. – James M – 2017-02-14T09:33:12.943

Hovering over the 'show desktop' bit on the right hand side of the taskbar fixes it for me.

Tip taken from here

Si Keep

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 280

In the text fields or in text editor, generally cursor does not display correctly. It can be fixed with below steps.

Click on Start > Type 'Mouse' and open it
in the 'Mouse Properties' > Go to 'Pointers'
in the 'Customize' field, scroll down and select 'Text Select' > Then click on 'Browse'
in the new opened 'Browse' window, select any mouse cursor icon and click 'Open'
Click 'OK' to close the 'Mouse Properties' window

Tuzzar

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 1

Same thing has happened to me, if rarely. Cursor changes from arrow or hand to just some vertical white dotted lines. Nothing showed up in the Event manager. Solution was to unplug my USB optical mouse for a few seconds and plug it back in.

PeaceByJesus

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 1

I have the same issue.....cursor suddenly turns into what can only be described as a straight vertical line about 10mm long with around 6 'hairs' attached to it on the right hand side...

Unplugging the usb mouse for a few seconds fixes it

user364226

Posted 2012-11-14T17:07:00.277

Reputation: 1