My mouse pointer becomes 8 dots -- here's the video

[xx-google]

Once or twice a week, my mouse pointer turns into a
half-inch vertical line consisting of 8 dots, and
then within a minute either:

(a) the pointer returns to being an arrow or

(b) Windows crashes, requiring a reboot.


I made a video of the 8-dot mouse pointer in action
and you can download it here:

http://telefog.com/pointer


I use Windows XP Pro, Version 2002, with Service Pack 2.
My motherboard is an Intel D975XBX2. My graphics card
is an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro.

My mouse drivers are:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\mouclass.sys (23KB, 8/3/2004)

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\mouhid.sys (12KB, 8/17/2001)

I used Device Manager to deinstall those 2 drivers and then
reinstall them, but the problem persists.

The mouse is a USB optical mouse. The problem occurs even
after I switch to a different mouse.

I've used Spybot, Ad-Aware, Avast, and Counterspy to remove
any malware that might be causing it, but they made no
difference.

I searched Google but didn't find any mention of this parti-
cular problem.

I'm prepared to reinstall Windows to solve the problem, but
I'd rather not.


Has any of you seen this particular problem?

Do you have any suggestions?

Can you recommend any newsgroups or websites for me to seek
help from?


Thanks in advance for any advice that you provide.


**********
1366294709

 

[Paul]

Once or twice a week, my mouse pointer turns into a
half-inch vertical line consisting of 8 dots, and
then within a minute either:

(a) the pointer returns to being an arrow or

(b) Windows crashes, requiring a reboot.


I made a video of the 8-dot mouse pointer in action
and you can download it here:

http://telefog.com/pointer


I use Windows XP Pro, Version 2002, with Service Pack 2.
My motherboard is an Intel D975XBX2. My graphics card
is an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro.

My mouse drivers are:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\mouclass.sys (23KB, 8/3/2004)

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\mouhid.sys (12KB, 8/17/2001)

I used Device Manager to deinstall those 2 drivers and then
reinstall them, but the problem persists.

The mouse is a USB optical mouse. The problem occurs even
after I switch to a different mouse.

I've used Spybot, Ad-Aware, Avast, and Counterspy to remove
any malware that might be causing it, but they made no
difference.

I searched Google but didn't find any mention of this parti-
cular problem.

I'm prepared to reinstall Windows to solve the problem, but
I'd rather not.


Has any of you seen this particular problem?

Do you have any suggestions?

Can you recommend any newsgroups or websites for me to seek
help from?


Thanks in advance for any advice that you provide.

I don't know if I have any advice for you. Except to point
out, that the cursor you see on the screen, probably
relies on software other than the mouse driver.

On some graphics subsystems, the cursor is an actual hardware
resource. It can be a rectangular pixmap, which can be loaded
by software, such as the video driver, or some part of the
operating system. Some quite complicated effects can be
implemented, by means of these movable rectangular graphics
areas. By means of things like clipping planes, parts of the
rectangle can be made transparent, so that the image underneath
shows through. You can probably do other things, such as
specify XOR, so that contrasting colors result when the
cursor moves around.

It is possible, that the cursor capabilities are so complicated,
that a little used "overlay" section of the cursor, could be
corrupted, and yield an effect on the cursor rendering. So
bad graphics RAM, a bad GPU, a bad video card driver, bad system
memory, are all candidates for messing up a cursor. And of course,
a hacker that wishes to leave a calling card, would certainly
find it entertaining to reprogram the cursor.

BTW - I didn't review the video...

Just for fun, what happens in Safe Mode ?

Paul

 

[M.I.5¾]

I don't know if I have any advice for you. Except to point
out, that the cursor you see on the screen, probably
relies on software other than the mouse driver.

On some graphics subsystems, the cursor is an actual hardware
resource. It can be a rectangular pixmap, which can be loaded
by software, such as the video driver, or some part of the
operating system. Some quite complicated effects can be
implemented, by means of these movable rectangular graphics
areas. By means of things like clipping planes, parts of the
rectangle can be made transparent, so that the image underneath
shows through. You can probably do other things, such as
specify XOR, so that contrasting colors result when the
cursor moves around.

It is possible, that the cursor capabilities are so complicated,
that a little used "overlay" section of the cursor, could be
corrupted, and yield an effect on the cursor rendering. So
bad graphics RAM, a bad GPU, a bad video card driver, bad system
memory, are all candidates for messing up a cursor. And of course,
a hacker that wishes to leave a calling card, would certainly
find it entertaining to reprogram the cursor.

BTW - I didn't review the video...

You couldn't have anyway because the page is corrupt.

 

[Lynda]

Hello - I have the SAME thing happening...I'm leaning toward something wrong
with the vidoe card or something, because when it doesn't return to normal,
my screen goes weird with just lines and it flashes. Did you ever find a
resolution or find out what it was?

 

[xx-google]

Hello - I have the SAME thing happening...I'm leaning toward something wrong
with the video card or something, because when it doesn't return to normal,
my screen goes weird with just lines and it flashes.  Did you ever finda
resolution or find out what it was?

I'm the original poster. I've concluded that the problem was the
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro graphics card. I replaced it this week with
an EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card from Fry's ($150, both in
the store and on the web at http://shop4.frys.com/product/5521750 ,
SKU: 5521750, $50 rebate if purchased from Fry's in July). So
far, so good; my fingers are crossed.

I called ATI about the problem and they concluded that my ATI card
was defective. I think that they started to offer me a warranty
replacement, but I wasn't interested because this was the second
ATI product that I'd had trouble with, and I wanted to try a
different brand.

(Sorry about the non-working video link that I originally posted.
I didn't bother to fix it because I decided that it didn't add
much to my narrative description.)