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Can't Drag and Drop Anything

I've installed OS X Lion and now when I click on an icon on my desktop and drag it, it follows along nicely, only letting go of the mouse button doesn't drop it. In fact, nothing does. Instead the icon hangs onto the cursor as if I have kept holding down the mouse button. If I want to drag something to the trash, when I hover over the Trash icon and let go, it acts like I'm still holding down the mouse button and instead opens up the Trash folder. It's not limited to trash, it's just where I first noticed it. I can't move files between folders.


This pretty much happens across the board, too. Drag an icon off of the dock to remove it, it just hangs onto the mouse pointer and never goes away. Drag an icon from the icon bar at the top (command-click) and you can pick up the icon and move it, but never drop it. Is there a solution to this?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 6:11 PM

Reply
261 replies

Aug 2, 2012 6:39 PM in response to Bill Bogard

this is the response I got from AirParrot support. FYI.


I apologize for the inconvenience. I'm happy to shed some light on this issue.

Certain Apple video drivers conflict with any installed third-party video drivers causing issues like logging out, randomly activating screen savers and drag-and-drop issues. Unfortunately, we're unable to fix the conflict. The fix must be made to Apple's provided display drivers.


Removing our display driver will allow you to continue to use AirParrot without issue. However, the ability to extend the desktop will be lost. Regular AirParrot features such as mirroring will continue to work properly.


To remove the driver in question, simply take the following steps:


1. Open the "Terminal" application from Spotlight

2. Run the following command. You will be prompted for your system password


sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/

APExtFramebuffer.kext

3. Reboot

That should resolve the issue for you.

Aug 14, 2012 7:09 PM in response to belosh

Just bought a DisplayLink adapter and was aware of this - thought it would be fixed by now though! DisplayLink folks say its totally a Lion issue hence my post!


I'm on a late 2008 15' MBP + Lion. The sleep/wake workaround does the job so I'm not sure why can't Apple take a look at it and find a fix :/


I need to use this adapter and won't upgrade HW/SW for a while! Hope to hear from Apple as I feel I'm back on Windows doing the sleep/wake workaround 😝 <3


Cheers!

Aug 14, 2012 8:58 PM in response to realcanadrian

Thanks for the tip! Do you mind sharing your HW?


I ressist being an early adopter on these type of upgrades; usually until reviewing all 3rd party SW/HW I use is fully compatible and evaluate any performance tradeoffs.


None of the Mountain Lion features will improve what I do. If staying on Lion means better CPU performance, I guess I can deal with this problem for now!

Aug 14, 2012 9:58 PM in response to anothertime

Mid-2009 15" MacBook Pro upgraded to 500gb Seagate Momentus XT drive and 8 gb RAM. I haven't noticed any performance hit in relation to Lion. Being honest though, I (and two other people I've spoken with) have noticed one weird behaviour: with the lid closed and laptop asleep, my battery will drain pretty quickly for some reason. My machine isn't eligible for Power Nap so it can't be that. Haven't tried resetting the SMC yet. Ultimately it's not an important issue for me. Everything else works great.

Aug 19, 2012 7:17 AM in response to belosh

My problems started after trying AirParrot, but I uninstalled it after the trail. I removed it using CleanMyMac, but for some reason the APExtFramebuffer.kext was left behind..


Manually deleting the file from \System\Library\Extensions fixed the problem!


So, if you tried AirParrot, remember to delete both files:


AirParrotDriver.kext

APExtFramebuffer.kext



I first thought that PathFinder was the problem, but I'm glad I found the solution here!

Aug 20, 2012 9:05 AM in response to bhudson

@bhudson

After running sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/APExtFramebuffer.kext, my macbook will only boot to OS X Untilities. Help please. It will not boot my HD.





same pb here...

i reinstall ML and no more pb !!

the problem with airserver or boom delight ( no sound , i forced to go pref/sound tab output and click internal speakers) disappeared too User uploaded fileUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file

Aug 24, 2012 2:25 PM in response to data_smog

Still have drag and drop nonfunction after trying all the suggestions and also installing Lion then Mountain Lion. Don't have Air Parrot or Air Display. Sleep wake doesn't help. Oddly enough, though, I created a photo book for my Dad for his birthday and was perfectly able to drag and drop photos, etc in that application (in iPhoto) but only when creating the book....go figure.

It really annoys me that Apple can't/won't fix this problem. Cut & past is so Windows and feels like the dark ages after previously having such a seamless and useful function as Drag & Drop.

Can't Drag and Drop Anything

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