Left mouse click randomly stops working

Question

Level 1

8 points

Left mouse click randomly stops working

My mouse and tablet left click will randomly stop functioning. The only fix that i have come up with so far is a restart. but this is only a band aid the issue keeps happening. I seems to happen when im multi-tasking, and usually when i have Firefox and an Adobe program open, this could just be coincidence as these are what i use on my mac daily. Any suggestions?? I had this issue on my macbook pro as well. I haven't found a fix for that either other then taking the bat out.

Please help, Just got this imac and really not excited that this is already happening to it.

Thanks

iMac Intel Core i7, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Dec 13, 2010 10:46 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 19, 2011 2:54 PM in response to BLima

Oh my god thank you so much I was getting so mad at this because it seemed to always happen when I was on campus and doing my homework on matlab. Your post made me think of the fact that I always keep my magic mouse in my backpack so I checked it was turned on and my calculator was pressing it down. Turned it off and problem is fixed I have been dealing with this for 3 days and didn't even think of that being a possibility haha. Thank you.

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Answer 2

Dec 17, 2010 7:12 AM in response to kiki7

I have same or similar problem. I have a MBP 13" attached to 24 Apple display and the left button of the mouse stops working. I can select things (eg icons in the dock) with the right click but have to use the keyboard for all else. I had Default Folder installed which uses a Universal Access option to work. I have uninstalled it which seemed to work but now the problem is back in full force. I am typing this on my laptop keyboard. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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Answer 3

nickba

Level 1

8 points

Feb 3, 2011 2:50 AM in response to ncarota

I dont think Apple checks this. Write to them on the page that I've provided.
I do screen sharing all the time (have ScreenSharingMenulet app) and often go to sleep...

I'll try to avoid doing that... to see if it changes anything...

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Answer 4

Apr 20, 2011 7:21 PM in response to kiki7

I had the same problem, and was just about to take it to an Apple Genius when I read about the bluetooth devices having their button accidentally pressed. I found that my unused bluetooth trackpad was under a bunch of junk and the left mouse click was continually pressed. Problem solved. Thank you!

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Answer 5

nickba

Level 1

8 points

Feb 1, 2011 8:01 AM in response to kiki7

Same problem. Randomly stops working. Need to click elsewhere to make it work on the desired button/link/object.

Please report this bug! extremely annoying. This is just a discussion board.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Who uses which mouse?
Any applications running on background?

I have little snitch, dropbox, transmit, among other regulars...

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Answer 6

Dec 14, 2010 4:15 PM in response to kiki7

I ran into this yesterday for the first time. I had moved the wireless trackpad into the closet about 10 feet from the imac. Then the magic mouse stopped working on the left click.

Moved the trackpad back onto the desk, re-booted – problem solved.

Weird.

Dunno if that helps?

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Answer 7

Dec 14, 2010 5:07 PM in response to kiki7

Did you do anything like move the Bluetooth (wireless) devices away from the computer? Are the batteries fresh or fully charged? Is there anything between the devices and the computer that could interfere with the signal?

Strange that one click function would stop when particular software is in use. Unless the two are somehow competing for resources.

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Answer 8

ncarota

Level 1

0 points

Feb 2, 2011 11:26 PM in response to kiki7

Same here, both on my two mac pro's, and my MBP 13. It feels like it happens after displays sleep, or when I'm screen sharing, but I really can't say I've reproduced it with any certainty. Really really frustrating since it requires a reboot to solve. My old 10.6.5 server is not experiencing this problem at all.

Please look into this apple.

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Answer 9

BLima

Level 1

4 points

Feb 19, 2011 12:44 PM in response to kiki7

I had the exact same issue a few days ago while playing a game at home. Turns out my work bag was within blue-tooth range and my extra track-pad was accidentally turned on in the bag and a book was pressing the left click in effect stopping the event being issued by either the built in track-pad or my magic mouse.

I pulled the track-pad out from under the book and no more problem. Generally I tend to think this is probably the same sort of issue most of you are running into.

Anyway I hope this helps anyone in the same situation as I was

Cheers!

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Answer 10

rknfo

Level 1

0 points

Mar 19, 2011 1:46 PM in response to BLima

This problem is on both my iMac and MacBook Pro. The problem is consistent. Changing double click time doesn't remedy this problem on either computer. In FF and Chrome when I try and close a tab, about half the time I have to click off to the side of the tab (or components area such as the close x), then click it again to get the click to happen. It happens on both Macs with different versions of OS.

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Answer 11

inajeep

Level 1

22 points

Mar 13, 2013 8:15 PM in response to kiki7

I had this same issue with my rMBP 15" two days ago and today my son had it on his iMac. Under track pad, single click was unchecked. Not sure how. My rMBP is months old but my son's is a year and never had this issue before. Using key combination we opened up system preferences and managed to enable single click again.

Searching google I find this issue has been around for years. No idea why.

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Answer 12

netsoup

Level 1

14 points

Apr 11, 2013 4:55 AM in response to WyattEarp

Same here. I was getting so frustrated. I would have to put it to sleep for a minute to get taps or clicks back, but multi-touch scrolling worked fine. Clicks would stop working after about a minute up. After reading these posts I realized the magic trackpad in my backpack by my feet was connecting. Wish it had a hard "off" switch, or an indicator that it turned off in favor of the touchpad clicks! Anyway, turned bluetooth off and all is good.

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Answer 13

Aug 3, 2011 12:31 PM in response to kiki7

My Magic Trackpad was sitting across the room with my headphones on top of it... If this wasn't so funny I'd be pretty embarassed.

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