Home » Other » Community Hangout » no left mouse button
no left mouse button [message #503983] Wed, 20 April 2011 13:48 Go to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
You don't realize how much you use and depend upon your left mouse button until it doesn't work. The left mouse button on the touchpad on my laptop (Hewlett-Packard Pavilion) has become unresponsive and useless. Additionally, I believe that you are supposed to be able to tap the touchpad and have it react the same as clicking the left mouse button, but that doesn't work either. However, the right mouse button still functions properly. Is this a common problem? Does anyone know of a quick fix? Is it likely just stuck and can be somehow unstuck?

I am trying to avoid taking the laptop to be repaired and being without a computer for an extended period of time while they ship it to the manufacturer, then wait for them to fix it and ship it back. I am told this could take a month. I also don't like the idea of risking repair personnel accessing personal information on my computer, which I am told is a common problem, or having them wipe everything out, so that I have to re-install all of the software, some of which might have to be re-purchased. Just downloading the free stuff and upgrades takes a horrendous amount of time and megabytes on my wireless internet connection. So, I am thinking about just buying an external mouse as a workaround. However, I wonder if it will work or if the malfunction could be such that it would cause the left button of such an external mouse to also not function. Anyone have an opinion or experience with such a thing?

I have eventually figured out some temporary substitutes for navigation, such as tab and shift-tab and enter and shortcuts consisting of combinations of alt or ctrl key and letters. I had to do this mostly through experimentation, because initially I could not even figure out how to get to a help menu to search for such things. There are still a number of things that I haven't figured out, as I have just dealt with the most important things. For example, I am unable to move or resize a window.

One of the most difficult things that I am having to deal with when tabbing through things instead of mousing over them, including on this site, is that the current item is not clearly highlighted. It just has a thin pale dashed gray line that makes a box around it and is extremely difficult to see. Does anyone know if there is some default setting for Windows 7 Professional and/or Firefox that I can use to highlight the current selection clearly?

Any comments, suggestions, or links are welcome. I am trying to search for such things myself, but navigating through web pages of search results is an agonizingly slow process without a left mouse button or the ability to see which item is currently highlighted.
Re: no left mouse button [message #503986 is a reply to message #503983] Wed, 20 April 2011 13:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
joy_division
Messages: 4963
Registered: February 2005
Location: East Coast USA
Senior Member
The double-tapping the pad should work, but it is a setting that has to be set. If you have an icon in your right tray for something dealing with mousepad, the setting should be there, otherwise you might have to search in control panel.

However, it would probably be on by default (unless someone changed it), so my guess is that your button is actually stuck, because to me, this would prevent any "other" process from trying to simulate a left mouse click.

You could also swap the left and right buttons, but if you use the right mouse button often, then you're just moving the problem from one place to another.

[Updated on: Wed, 20 April 2011 13:57]

Report message to a moderator

Re: no left mouse button [message #503987 is a reply to message #503986] Wed, 20 April 2011 14:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Joy_Division,

Thanks for responding. Switching mouse buttons had not occurred to me. That's a great idea. I was able to navigate through the control panel to get to a menu to do that. I use the left mouse button way more than the right mouse button, so that helped immensely. Also, once I switched mouse buttons, the double-tapping on the touchpad now has the same effect as clicking the right mouse button, although it did not previously work for the left mouse button. So, does that tend to confirm that it is physically stuck or electronically disconnected or what? Does this mean that an external mouse would have the same problem or not or unknown?

Once again, switching mouse buttons is way better than the alternatives I was using, mostly because I can see where my mouse is pointing to click on it, but could not see what the current selection was otherwise. I was doing a lot of just hitting the enter key and waiting to see what came up to get an idea where I was, then trying to figure out how to get back to where I was, and how many tabs to hit to get to what I wanted to select.

Thanks,
Barbara
Re: no left mouse button [message #503988 is a reply to message #503983] Wed, 20 April 2011 14:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mahesh Rajendran
Messages: 10707
Registered: March 2002
Location: oracleDocoVille
Senior Member
Account Moderator
What model of HP are you using?
Most low-end models and Dv5 series have issues with the trackpad.
Just bought one for the wife and have to return it because the trackpad was totally useless with Ubuntu (and to some extent useless in windows 7).
If you are just looking to browse without a mouse and happen to use Firefox,
try the mouseless browser plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/mouseless-browsing/

It is not very elegant, as your browser will be cluttered with just too many numbers.
But has helped me in a couple of occasions when I have no access to external mouse.

[Updated on: Wed, 20 April 2011 14:31]

Report message to a moderator

Re: no left mouse button [message #503989 is a reply to message #503988] Wed, 20 April 2011 14:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
There is a permanent embossing on the computer that says, "HP Pavilion Entertainment PC". There is a removable sticker on it that says, "hp Pavilion dv7-3165dx Entertainment Notebook". I am unable to navigate to the "My Computer" page, but running "systeminfo" from a dos command window, shows, "HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC", although I cannot find a way to copy and paste the result.




icon12.gif  Re: no left mouse button [message #503990 is a reply to message #503988] Wed, 20 April 2011 15:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Mahesh Rajendran,

Thanks for the link to the mouseless browser plugin. I do use Firefox, so I downloaded and installed the mouseless browser add-on for Firefox. It provides an additional option without disabling the existing options. For example, I used ctrl-8-2-Enter to select the option to reply to this thread, instead of clicking on it, but I can still also click on it. The little boxes with numbers are much easier to read than looking for what is highlighted. I will probably use a combination of such alternatives for various things.

Thanks,
Barbara
icon12.gif  Re: no left mouse button [message #503991 is a reply to message #503990] Wed, 20 April 2011 15:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
I found that I had to use Alt-2-8-Enter to submit the reply, not Ctrl, so I am still trying to figure out when to use Alt and when to use Ctrl.

[Updated on: Wed, 20 April 2011 15:14]

Report message to a moderator

Re: no left mouse button [message #503993 is a reply to message #503987] Wed, 20 April 2011 15:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
joy_division
Messages: 4963
Registered: February 2005
Location: East Coast USA
Senior Member
Barbara, this may sound dumb, but does rebooting solve the problem? It could just be that the driver got messed up and it is not allowing left mouse clicks.

But it does indeed look more like a "stuck" button. Based on Mahesh's answers, it seems like these built-in track pads are a problem.

I'd also plug in a mouse and see if that makes any difference (both with the mouse buttons switched and the regular way).
Re: no left mouse button [message #503996 is a reply to message #503993] Wed, 20 April 2011 16:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
joy_division wrote on Wed, 20 April 2011 13:55

Barbara, this may sound dumb, but does rebooting solve the problem? It could just be that the driver got messed up and it is not allowing left mouse clicks.

But it does indeed look more like a "stuck" button. Based on Mahesh's answers, it seems like these built-in track pads are a problem.

I'd also plug in a mouse and see if that makes any difference (both with the mouse buttons switched and the regular way).


Although I forgot to mention it, rebooting was the first thing that I tried. This problem started last night. Rebooting did not fix it last night. I shut it down overnight as usual and starting it up this morning did not fix the problem.

I don't have a mouse to plug in, but am considering buying one. I do most of my shopping online, so I will probably search to see what is compatible, then find the best price, then order it. That is usually cheaper than going to a local store and I usually find time to do that quicker than I find time to get to a store. Right now, I am happy enough with the combination of workarounds, switching mouse buttons and mouseless browsing plugin, that it is not an urgent matter.

I should mention that just prior to this happening, there were a couple of unexpected shutdowns. I frequently leave the computer on while I do other things and come back. When I returned from one of these breaks, I found that it was in the midst of restarting after such an unexpected shutdown and did not get to see what happened or have any clue as to what happened.

There is a log that I can check and some diagnostics that I can run. I need to get off this computer and get some errands done, but I will see if I can do these things tonight or tomorrow.
Re: no left mouse button [message #503999 is a reply to message #503996] Wed, 20 April 2011 17:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
I should add one more thing. I have my computer set to do automated updates of everything, including Windows and Firefox and Norton Internet Security Suite. It is common for such things to require a restart. It will usually display a message that such an update requires a restart and provide options to restart now or postpone for a specified amount of time, or cancel. By default, they usually have some short amount of time prior to restart, such as 4 to 10 minutes. It is likely that one of these things is what caused the unexpected shutdown and restart, so it is likely not relevant.

There was a recent such automated update to Firefox, after which I noted that there were some add-ons and things for which there was not yet a new version to run on the new version of Firefox.

There are a lot of such things that automatically resolve themselves over time. My system is constantly doing automated checking for updates and scanning for viruses and troubleshooting problems, so frequently if I just wait, such problems fix themselves faster than I could have figured them out. However, this mouse thing seems more like a physical hardware problem that isn't going to go away on its own.

Re: no left mouse button [message #504017 is a reply to message #503999] Thu, 21 April 2011 01:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
When the computer is turned off: did you try to turn it upside down and "shake" a little bit? Maybe there's a crumb, stuck under the left touchpad button, that prevents it to be "clicked". Or, use vacuum cleaner? Or (which is what we often do), take a bottle of compressed air and blow out all the dirt?

As of certain items being hardly visible: did you consider switching to one of Windows High Contrast themes (the ones used by disabled people)? I understand that it would most probably make your Windows look ugly, but ... just as a temporary solution, it might help.
Re: no left mouse button [message #504146 is a reply to message #504017] Thu, 21 April 2011 12:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Littlefoot,

I haven't tried turning the computer upside down and shaking it or vacuuming or using compressed air. I am able to press the mouse button and watch it go up and down and hear it click, so I don't think it is physically stuck. It is also a very tight fit without visible room for anything to get underneath the key.

I tried the high contrast that you suggested, but it didn't help. When I tab from one thing to another, the only thing that shows me which thing I am on is a very fine thin dashed line forming a box around it, which is very hard to see, even on the high contrast. I was hoping maybe there is something that would change the background color of the current item to yellow or some such thing, so that it would stand out.

I am experiencing odd things. I have found that sometimes the numbers on the mouseless browser are wrong. I am also finding that other things start out not working when I first start my computer, then begin to work. For example, when I first start the computer, both mouse buttons do not work, but eventually the right mouse button (seft for left-handed) begins working, but the left mouse button still does not work. Also some key combinations don't work, then do. It acts as if it has encountered some problem on start-up and takes a while to eventually resolve it as best it can. Once the right mouse button finally begins working, so that I can use it like it was the left mouse button, then it gets reasonably easy to use. Until then, it is very slow trying to do anything.


[Updated on: Thu, 21 April 2011 12:41]

Report message to a moderator

Re: no left mouse button [message #504183 is a reply to message #504146] Thu, 21 April 2011 16:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
Strange.

I wonder if reinstalling everything would help (yes, I know - it is not an option). However: would it be possible to run Windows setup and choose "Repair"? Maybe it would fix that funny behaviour. Though, I guess you'll first try the mouse, right? (Can't you borrow it for a moment from some kid in the neighborhood?)
Re: no left mouse button [message #504198 is a reply to message #504183] Thu, 21 April 2011 23:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rleishman
Messages: 3728
Registered: October 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Senior Member
The fact that switching mouse buttons worked sounds to me like a physical problem, not a software one. It's a shame you have just one computer, because you would be understandably reluctant to do some DIY work on it.

Since both the button and the double-tap don't work, I think there's a very good chance that an external mouse wont work either. What you may need to do is to disconnect the touchpad, then an external mouse would almost certainly work (if the problem is physical). This is an astoundingly simple task, but also one of those things that - if you were doing it for the first time - you should have another computer around to check unexpected things on the net.

Many laptops will put the touchpad connector under the keyboard for easy access, so you just remove the keyboard, unplug the touchpad, and put the keyboard back on. I have seen a few different configurations of laptop architecture, but easily the most common is:
- Remove the mains power and battery.
- Pop off the panel above the Function keys. This is usually not screwed in and can be gently levered off by slipping a flat screwdriver under the hinge cover. If there is no obvious panel or strong resistance, then it is a different architecture.
- Once the panel is off, the keyboard should be held in place by two small phillips-head (star) screws above the F1 and F12 keys. Remove these and the keyboard will lift off, although there will be a ribbon connector underneath. It should be long enough to put the keyboard to one side.
- You should see a smaller ribbon connector coming from beneath the touchpad to a place near where the keyboard plugs in.
- There will be plastic slide-tabs on either side of the connector. Slide them to loosen the connector, then pull it out. Leave it unplugged.
- Replace the keyboard, the 2 screws, and snap the top panel back into place.
- Plug in the external mouse and try it out.

I say this not because I expect you to try it, but to demonstrate what a monumentally simple task it is for someone who has done it before.

If you found a computer shop that specialised in repairs (rather than sales), they could do it in about 5 minutes while you watch. If you bought a $20 USB mouse from them then they may waive the service charge.
Re: no left mouse button [message #504205 is a reply to message #504198] Fri, 22 April 2011 00:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
The mouse buttons are directly in front of me, the touchpad is just beyond that. Just beyond the touchpad is a button that turns the touchpad and mouse buttons on and off and a light to the left of it that is white when it is supposedly on and red when it is off. The keyboard is beyond that. I expect that I may be able to use this button to disable the touchpad, so that I can use a USB mouse. If not, I suspect there may be a way to programatically disable it, rather than resorting to physical disconnection.

From electronics to plumbing, I have tended to try to do things myself, after researching things. Frequently, I end up worse off than before I started, then have to have somebody else fix things. I try to do the simplest things first, then resort to the harder things if I have to. Figuring out what to do is usually not the problem. It is usually dealing with things that are stuck and create a bigger problem when I try to force them and they break. Examples are screws and shut-off valves and such that won't turn. After soaking in wd-40, then using more force, I frequently end up with a broken part.

This kind of reminds me of a situation back around 1986 I think it was, when we had a Compaq Deskpro 286 that beeped repeatedly during input, driving everyone nuts. Some people were ready to open the computer and cut the wire to the speaker, until we discovered that we could use, "SET BELL OFF" to stop it.

Re: no left mouse button [message #504228 is a reply to message #504205] Fri, 22 April 2011 08:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
knw15pwr
Messages: 134
Registered: March 2010
Senior Member
You can just try updating the drivers for the touchpad from the control panel menu. This should fix your problem. If you are going in for a USB mouse, that should be no problem either as the drivers would be independent of each other. (Though you can test with one from a friend just to be sure)
Also, if you need, you can disable your touchpad from the same menu as above.
Re: no left mouse button [message #504272 is a reply to message #504228] Fri, 22 April 2011 20:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Have mouse! Can click!

I checked logs and ran troubleshooting and every thing that was suggested or I could think of, but it didn't fix anything. I found that the touchpad and right mouse were working sporadically and using the numbers on the mouseless browser didn't always get me to the right place, and some things were still completely inaccessible. I tried to search for a cheap mouse, so that I could order it and found that I wasn't able to navigate the search results well enough to get anywhere and was going in circles.

I got frustrated, got in my car, and drove to the nearest Best Buy, where I bought a $10 plug n play USB mouse and a $7 mouse pad. I brought them home, plugged the mouse into the USB port, waited while it installed the driver, then tested it, and it works fine. I did not have to turn off the touchpad or programatically disable it or physically disconnect it.

I put the mouse and pad on the left, although I am right-handed. I used to have it that way at work, because it allows me to use the arrows with my right hand while I use the mouse with my left hand. I use the mouse mostly for clicking and tend to prefer using arrows to moving the mouse wherever either will work. My little desk is getting more crowded. I need to get a bigger desk and/or clear some stuff out of the way.

It was a strange drive getting there and back. Today is Earth Day, Good Friday, Passover, and a day that President Obama is in southern California. I think many people were off work and driving around and a lot of groups saw it as an opportunity to have fund raisers or express their political opinion or whatever. There were people along the street trying to wave you down to pull into fund-raising car washes for whatever. There were firemen in uniform lined up along the entrance and exit to the shopping center holding out boots with signs to fill the boot with donations for something, with their fire truck parked nearby. These various things were causing traffic jams on the streets and in the parking lots. What a strange-looking mess. Note to self: stay at home on holidays, special days, and when the president is visiting southern California.



Re: no left mouse button [message #504286 is a reply to message #504272] Fri, 22 April 2011 22:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
The new mouse is not working now and I haven't changed anything since when it was working. I haven't even re-started the computer or anything. I am now back to tab and enter being my only means of navigation again. Bummer. The only things that I can think of that would cause sporadic working and not working are either a loose wire or an overheating problem. Any ideas as to what else it could be or what to check or try?

Re: no left mouse button [message #504298 is a reply to message #504286] Sat, 23 April 2011 00:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
manubatham20
Messages: 566
Registered: September 2010
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Senior Member

Hmmmm, try to boot your system with any Live Windows CD. May be its problems with drivers for the mouse. And touch the bottom of the laptop in every 30 minutes (to check that cooling is done properly). If its a driver problem, then booting through Windows Live CD will detect it. And if its cooling problem then the other components of your laptop can get affected, check with the laptop repairer/vendor. Have you tried your new mouse on any other system?

Regards,
Manu
Re: no left mouse button [message #504299 is a reply to message #504298] Sat, 23 April 2011 00:45 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rleishman
Messages: 3728
Registered: October 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Senior Member
Live CD is a great suggestion. Ubuntu Live CD is pretty straightforward to download and use. If it fails with Live CD, it's definitely hardware.

You could also try soft-disabling the touchpad device as I think someone suggested above. In XP, it's Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Device Manager. Find the touchpad device and RIGHT (Yeah!) Click -> Uninstall.
Re: no left mouse button [message #504314 is a reply to message #504299] Sat, 23 April 2011 09:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
A virus, perhaps? Did you run anti-virus software?

I mean: it is strange that touchpad stopped working. A mouse is attached to a USB port. USB port doesn't work any more, all of the sudden? A brand new mouse is dead? Eh, possible, but not probable. (By the way, did you try another USB port?)
Re: no left mouse button [message #504328 is a reply to message #504314] Sat, 23 April 2011 13:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
When I started up the computer this morning, the touchpad and right mouse button and new mouse (both buttons) were all working. After a short while, the touchpad and mouse continue to move the arrow, but none of the buttons work. I have not been able to establish any pattern as to when this happens, such as after I have accessed a certain site or forgotten and tried to click the left mouse button on the laptop out of habit, but have not found any such pattern. The laptop sits on a cooling pad as usual and has plenty of room for ventilation on all sides. There is some minor heat coming out the vent on the left side as usual and I can hear the fan running quietly as usual. It is not running on high as it does occasionally briefly when it is doing a lot at once. The underside feels warm, but not too hot to touch, with the underside of the front under the touchpad being much cooler than the underside of the back of the computer.

I don't have another system to try the mouse on. Windows shows that both are functional correctly. An attempt to update the drivers, shows that they are all using the correct drivers. Disabling the old mouse keys on the laptop does not enable the new mouse to work. The touchpad and mouse keys are listed separately and the option for disabling the touchpad is grayed out. Switching the new mouse to a different USB port causes it to install device driver software as it did when I first plugged it into the other USB port, but does not cause it to start working.

I have Norton 360 set to run scans and tune-ups and such automatically. A manual run of Norton diagnostics does not find anything other than that I disabled the mouse buttons on the computer. A manual run of Norton live update only did an anti-phishing update and everything else was current. A manual run of Norton scan for virus and spyware showed 8 of the lowest level (info only) risks found and fixed. I am unable to navigate to the details, but these are usually just tracking cookies.

I don't have Windows Live CD and am not sure if I want to try to find it, download it, and run it, while I am having such navigational problems that I might have trouble getting back to where things are now and could end up worse off.

I will probably continue as I am for a while to see if I can establish any pattern, then probably resort to taking the laptop in for repairs. I am still open to any other suggestions of things to try.

Re: no left mouse button [message #504334 is a reply to message #504328] Sat, 23 April 2011 14:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
The new mouse is now working again without changing anything. It is still plugged into the second USB port that I plugged it into earlier, which did not work at the time. I have not shut down or restarted the computer and feel no changes in heat, so I think that eliminates overheating. It seems to be an on again off again sort of thing. The only things that I can think of are some sort of internal loose connection or something that repeatedly causes a problem then eventually resolves itself. This is really strange. It would be just my luck that if I take it in to be repaired it will be working at the time and they will therefore be unable to diagnose the problem. I think I need to have a better idea what is wrong before I take it in for repair. Otherwise, such places have a tendency to claim that it was a virus, even though it wasn't, then just restore your system to the way it was when you bought it, wiping out all of your installed software, and leaving the original unsolved problem to recur.

[Updated on: Sat, 23 April 2011 14:28]

Report message to a moderator

Re: no left mouse button [message #504337 is a reply to message #504334] Sat, 23 April 2011 14:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
manubatham20
Messages: 566
Registered: September 2010
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Senior Member

That's why I told you to check it with a Live CD. It will remove the confusion that your system is affected with virus or not. If its not affected, it will show the same problem when u execute it with Live CD and if its affected, it will not show any problem with the OS executed by Live CD. I personally don't believe in Antivirus. As there are ways one can fool Antivirus.

One question, have you executed any .exe, .com, .scr or any other thing (like shortcut file) recently downloaded from internet. If you executed any such file, just check it with

http://www.virustotal.com/


Have you observed any suspicious behavior of your OS? If yes, then go for the Live CD first.

Regards,
Manu
Re: no left mouse button [message #504338 is a reply to message #504337] Sat, 23 April 2011 15:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
knw15pwr
Messages: 134
Registered: March 2010
Senior Member
Manu - Barbara has Norton 360 - id rather say it is a pretty decent Antivirus SW.

Barbara -
Why dont you try System Restore to a recent date before you started facing this issue ? Start > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.
This will not affect any data or SW that was installed untill that date (it mostly does not affect any data at all). I suggest this as you mentioned you have Auto Updates enabled. Chances are that you got a screwed up patch - and this may be fixed when you get the next patch (which there is no way to predict).
Also, in my personal opinion, you can rather switch off the automatic update - the updates are rather irrelevant mostly. You wont even notice them. Updating once a while manually is much better. I am pretty sure your system will run just as fine without any updates either.
Re: no left mouse button [message #504343 is a reply to message #504338] Sat, 23 April 2011 18:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rleishman
Messages: 3728
Registered: October 2005
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Senior Member
I reckon this behavior is consistent with a connection problem in the touchpad. It the touchpad is sending bogus signals (like a stuck down click) then it will block other devices. It happens occasionally on my HTPC - I have a separate keyboard and remote control - if the keyboard is left upside down with some button pressed, it can affect the remote control.

Here's a link for Ubuntu Live CD http://goo.gl/wzUJ although you will still need to burn it to a blank CD, which could create a bit of clicking stress.

Have you tried Uninstalling the touchpad in Device Manager?
Re: no left mouse button [message #504345 is a reply to message #504343] Sat, 23 April 2011 20:16 Go to previous message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
I think it was the left mouse button, not the touchpad. As you say, it was probably sending a bogus signal blocking the new mouse from working, then it would resolve the problem and the new mouse would work for a while, then the left mouse key would send a bogus signal again and the cycle would repeat. I think this continued until I disabled the old mouse buttons on the laptop through the Windows control panel, but I think it had to finish the cycle it was already in the midst of to resolve it one last time.

The new external mouse has now been working correctly for more than five hours, so I am not changing anything until or unless the problem recurs. If the problem does not recur, then the fact that disabling the old mouse keys without doing anything to the touchpad solved the problem tends to confirm that your theory is right, but for the button, not the touchpad. The touchpad has been functioning during the last five hours, but I have not tapped it to use it like a mouse key. I was also not tapping the touchpad to use it as a mouse key while the problems were occurring, so that indicates that it was the mouse key not the touchpad. I have now turned the touchpad off using the button above it, just to make sure that I do not accidentally bump it in such a manner that could be interpreted as a left click.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Hopefully this is the end of the problem. If not, I'll be back.


Previous Topic: Funny Replies
Next Topic: Croatian vacation
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Fri Mar 29 01:44:33 CDT 2024