using Win11, frequently have to reboot to get mouse to work again after 'lock'ing desktop - help!

[atyar1973]

I have Windows 11, current on Windows updates AND drivers,updates from my manufacturer(Lenovo).  Generally speaking, everything works fine except for 1 significant thing that is pretty annoying.  Whenever I lock the desktop(Win-L) and get up for a few minutes, when I return to the pc and log back in, the mouse pointer is almost invariably missing and I have to reboot to get it back(usually by ctrl-Alt-Del to the black screen(or whatever it's called) and then using the <Tab> key to get down to the power icon and selecting it, then rebooting. 

***The ONLY thing I've ever dound to help this is to turn off ALL customization options for the mouse pointer(like size, color(black), trails(which are helpful for locating the mouse pointer - now I have to use the Ctrl key to find it), and that seems to be working(for the past few days), but I really do miss being able to use the pointer trails, larger mouse cursor, etc., as I'm permanently disabled from strokes and my vision gets tired out as the day wears on.

Anyone have any other ideas for how to fix this? (Incidentally, using an external mouse really isn't an option since I'm mostly sitting in our living room while using my laptop b/c of being disabled.

Thanks, all, for any help you can offer!

(Incidentally, I was an I.T. Pro before my first stroke(mostly in PC Support and Networking(Cisco routers, etc.) so I can usually follow even complex instructions/procedures capably when necessary :)

-Al Yarrington

[#2]

atyar1973,

Thanks for your question; however, Away from Keyboard is not the correct discussion space for it. I'll be moving your question to the Windows 11 discussion space in the Windows community.

Thanks,

Meenah
Community Manager | Tech Community Admin

[#3]

@atyar1973 

If you don't have the latest graphics drivers installed (WHQL) from the OEM or vendor, things like drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop will not work properly (most animations and visual effects depend on the shader cache.) The mouse pointer / trackpad / peripheral device could be in a low power state, but it's probably just related to your graphics drivers. It's hard to say. You could try this even:

Control Panel -> Power Options -> Balanced -> Change plan settings -> Change advanced power settings -> USB Settings -> USB selective suspend setting -> Disabled

Control Panel -> Device Manager -> Mice and other pointing devices -> Select the device (mouse / trackpad, etc.) -> Right Click -> Properties -> Power Management -> Uncheck: Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power

Start Menu -> Run -> C:\Windows\System32\SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe -> Performance -> Settings... -> Visual Effects -> Select: Adjust for best performance

[#4]

@MousefluffThanks for the ideas! Unfortunately, I can't find any power management setting for my mouse(trackpoint) but I'll keep looking down that road :)

[#5]

@Mousefluff, I just went and manually 'updated' the driver to the latest one on Lenovo's website for my pc, then went into device manager after rebooting to verify it is indeed using that new driver.  I'll see how it does for a few days and post back later this week with the results...

Thx again for answering! :)

-Al

[#6]

Update: today(Tues 4/12) - it's still doing the same thing whenever I lock the pc and am afk for any length of time.  I had done as suggested and turned that power saving setting for usb to 'never'....but it really doesn't seem to have helped any..... At this point, I'm giving up(at least for the moment) and am guessing the guy who sold this thing on EBay was probably having the same problem.  Unfortunately, I've pretty much resigned myself to having to replace it and am trying to snipe a same-model pc on EBay that doesn't have ram nor an O/S, so I can just transfer them from my laptop if I wind up winning it.

[#7]

well, didn't get that other laptop after all on EBay - it sold for about $50 more than my upper 'limit'.....

[#8]

Just went to the Synaptics website and installed their latest trackpoint driver.......*shrug* we'll see how that does I guess....

[#9]

Update: regarding the idea above to prevent the pc from turning off the mouse in power management settings - I'm familiar with the option ('historically'), but there is no such tab when I look for it there. So, I did the other tip, to select 'Adjust for best performance' and I think that's done the trick :)

[#10]

@atyar1973 I have the same issue, sometimes waking from sleep or even starting up my desktop I have no mouse cursor but its still there as things are highlighted as I move the mouse around, rather than restarting the machine I find restarting the graphics driver fixes the issue using the shortcut shift+ctrl+windows key+B