On Tue, 2 Dec 2008, Tom Goldring wrote:

> I just installed SL 5.2. If I bring it up with the graphical login screen
> (i.e. if runlevel 5 is set in /etc/inittab) then I can't see the mouse 
> pointer. The mouse still works because I can select things from the 
> menus at the top of the screen if I happen to move the mouse to the
> right place (i.e. move it around until something gets highlighted). The 
> only way I can get a properly working mouse is to edit /etc/inittab to 
> start in runlevel 3, reboot, login at the console, and then run startx. 
> But if I terminate X (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace) and then run startx again,
> the mouse pointer once again becomes invisible.
> If anyone can tell me what is causing this behavior
> and how to fix it I would very much appreciate the help.

Since you mentioned changing /etc/inittab I am guessing that
"init 3" followed by "startx" wont work.

Sounds like some graphics card specific problem - which graphics
hardware and driver are you using ?

XFree86 had a "Device" section option
 	Option     "SWcursor"
you could try adding that line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and see whether a software cursor helps.

-- 
Dr. Andrew C. Aitchison		Computer Officer, DPMMS, Cambridge
[log in to unmask]	http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~werdna