Mouse moves but does not respond to being pressed

Question

Level 1

5 points

Mouse moves but does not respond to being pressed

I am using OSx El Capitan version 10.11.3. While using my Mac the mouse will stop responding to being pressed. The cursor can be moved but clicks will not work. The only way to proceed is to using the power button. It can be used to power done the computer. After doing a restart the mouse operation is restored to normal. Has anyone else seen this problem? Is there a known fix?

Posted on Mar 12, 2016 5:09 PM

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Answer 1

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,112 points

Mar 14, 2016 7:50 PM in response to gjr535

If you have access to a wired USB keyboard & mouse, they may be helpful in

the process of troubleshooting; or to attempt a reset of SMC and/or NVRAM.

• How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

• Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

There may be a hardware problem in the computer, however until you figure if

the problem is not software related, a professional diagnostic (for a fee) may

be a visit to plan on if nothing else appears to produce results or clues to a fix.

A nearby source of interference may affect the bluetooth wireless. Some kinds

of newer devices can produce signals that can affect various computer devices.

Sorry that I don't have a definite path to suggest for troubleshooting this problem.

Good luck in any event! 🙂

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Mar 14, 2016 7:45 PM in response to gett1

A

Please remove the Norton/Symantec product(s) by following these instructions. If you have a different version of the product, the procedure may be different. If you tried to remove it by dragging an application to the Trash, reinstall it and finish the job.

Back up all data before making any changes. Never install any "anti-virus" or "anti-malware" product again.

B

If you still have problems, also remove "WD Drive Manager" and the Logitech keyboard software.

Any third-party software that doesn't install from the App Store or by drag-and-drop into the Applications folder, and uninstall by drag-and-drop to the Trash, is a system modification.

Whenever you remove system modifications, they must be removed completely, and the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool, if any, provided by the developers, or to follow their instructions. If the software has been incompletely removed, you may have to re-download or even reinstall it in order to finish the job.

I never install system modifications myself, and except as stated in this comment, I don't know how to uninstall them. You'll have to do your own research to find that information.

Here are some general guidelines to get you started. Suppose you want to remove something called “BrickMyMac” (a hypothetical example.) First, consult the product's Help menu, if there is one, for instructions. Finding none there, look on the developer's website, say www.brickmymac.com. (That may not be the actual name of the site; if necessary, search the Web for the product name.) If you don’t find anything on the website or in your search, contact the developer. While you're waiting for a response, download BrickMyMac.dmg and open it. There may be an application in there such as “Uninstall BrickMyMac.” If not, open “BrickMyMac.pkg” and look for an Uninstall button. The uninstaller might also be accessed by clicking the Customize button, if there is one.

Back up all data before making any changes.

You will generally have to restart the computer in order to complete an uninstallation. Until you do that, there may be no effect, or unpredictable effects.

If you can’t remove software in any other way, you’ll have to erase and install OS X. Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve.

Trying to remove complex system modifications by hunting for files by name often will not work and may make the problem worse. The same goes for "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.

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Answer 3

gett1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 12, 2016 6:05 PM in response to Duane

I am using a 5k 27" iMac. The problem occurs with both a Magic Mouse and an Apple Trackpad 2. When the problem occurs I usually try both inputs to see if it is related to just one or both inputs. I also use a Logitech wireless keyboard. I have removed the keyboard and switched to an Apple Wireless keyboard. Switching keyboards had no affect on the issue. The problem still occurs randomly.

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Answer 4

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Mar 12, 2016 6:37 PM in response to gett1

When you notice the problem, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

Launch the Console application in any one of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

If you have an account on Pastebin, please don't select Private from the Paste Exposure menu on the page, because then no one but you will be able to see it.

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Answer 5

gett1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 13, 2016 4:29 PM in response to Linc Davis

I haven't posted the info you asked for since the problem has not yet reoccured. It is a random issue and I have not noted a tiger that causes it to occur. Once it does I will obtain the data you request. I plan to copy date from two minutes before the time that I first note the problem. I have no way of detecting when it starts. I do not know it happened until I click the mouse and get no response. Hopefully, two minutes should capture the log file when it actually occurred.

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Answer 6

gett1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 14, 2016 1:53 PM in response to Linc Davis

The problem reoccured this afternoon at 1:37. I copied the log from 1:35 through 1:37. Hopefully this captured the event. Once again, 1:37 is when I found the mouse clicks were no longer working. I don't think I went more than 2 minutes between mouse clicks.

Here is what I captured:

3/14/16 1:35:46.456 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.updateEFIDesktopPicture) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

3/14/16 1:35:48.310 PM WDDriveUtilityHelper[425]: Sending SCSI command to Target serial number = WCC4N2PKLHLC (length = 12)

3/14/16 1:35:48.310 PM WDDriveUtilityHelper[425]: SCSI Data received from Target (length = 0)

3/14/16 1:35:48.310 PM WDDriveUtilityHelper[425]: