[Newbie]No mouse pointer in XFree86 4.1.0.1 ???

[Jason Hendriks]

Hello all;   I've installed XFree86 on several boxes before, but today something odd has happened.  The mouse pointer disappeared when I upgraded from the old (default Debian 2.2.19) X server to XFree86!  The mouse IS still there, (ie) the log says so AND if I move it around, occasionally a button will highlight.  But the pointer itself is gone.   Here's what I did: Install Debian (2.2.19pre17) from CD Perform apt-get upgrade Install Gnome (everything is fine) Install XFree86 4.1.0.1 (mouse disappears from GDM and desktop) Install KDE (no mouse in KDM and desktop either)   While in KDM I can move the mouse around until the "Go!" button turns white and click the left mouse button, this logs me in.  And after KDE loads I can still click the mouse in obvious spots (like the Big K "Start" button).  But other than KDE's version of the hourglass while starting an application, the actual pointer is nowhere to be seen.   Any ideas?  Someone here said "enable the software pointer through a parameter on startx".  Didn't see an option like that though.   Come Sunday I will have to fix this problem remotely, I'd rather get it done now that I still have access to the console.   If anyone cares here's the relevant bit from /var/log/XFree86.0.log :   GenericMouse /dev/input/mice obviously doesn't load but ConfiguredMouse /dev/ttyS0 is detected as "MouseMan" just fine.  Does the GenericMouse failing have anything to do with it?   (**) Option "Protocol" "Auto" (**) Configured Mouse: Protocol: "Auto" (**) Option "CorePointer" (**) Configured Mouse: Core Pointer (**) Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0" (==) Configured Mouse: Buttons: 3 (**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true" (**) Configured Mouse: Emulate3Buttons, Emulate3Timeout: 50 (**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" (**) Configured Mouse: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5 (**) Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2" (**) Generic Mouse: Protocol: "ImPS/2" (**) Option "SendCoreEvents" "true" (**) Generic Mouse: always reports core events (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" (EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice         No such file or directory. (EE) Generic Mouse: cannot open input device (EE) PreInit failed for input device "Generic Mouse" (II) UnloadModule: "mouse" (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Configured Mouse" (type: MOUSE) (II) Configured Mouse: PnP ID string: `(!DLGI8001)' (II) Configured Mouse: PnP rev 1.00 (II) Configured Mouse: PnP-detected protocol ID: 4 (--) Configured Mouse: PnP-detected protocol: "MouseMan" (**) Option "BaudRate" "1200" (WW) Cannot open APM (==) ATI(0): Write-combining range (0xcf800000,0x200000) (**) ATI(0): DPMS enabled (**) Option "BaudRate" "1200" (**) Option "StopBits" "1" (**) Option "DataBits" "7" (**) Option "Parity" "None" (**) Option "Vmin" "1" (**) Option "Vtime" "0" (**) Option "FlowControl" "None" (II) Configured Mouse: PnP ID string: `(!DLGI8001)' (II) Configured Mouse: PnP rev 1.00 (II) Configured Mouse: PnP-detected protocol ID: 4 (--) Configured Mouse: PnP-detected protocol: "MouseMan"   Jason