Binary package hint: xorg
I apologize as I can not find a set of steps to reproduce this problem. It occurs often enough so that this is a major problem. The scenario: I am writing an email in evolution and all of a sudden my left mouse button clicks are no longer processed. I can not select anything on the desktop. I can still type, the right and middle mouse button still interact correctly and the keyboard interaction is unaffected. This has happened several time in Evolutions as well as Netbeans. It is kin to the drag and drop problem where the drag operation picks up something that can not be dropped. You are left stuck with a mouse that is in a mode that can not be completed.
Once I find myself in this situation (left mouse clicks no longer being handled by X or apps running on X), I can not restore functionality. ESC does nothing.
I also notice sometimes, especially when I am in an editor of some type such as G-Edit, that when I find myself in this stuck mode, the editor is in drag-select mode. That is, when I move the mouse without any buttons pressed, the selection region in the text editor follows my movements as if I was holding the left mouse button down (drag motion). Again, ESC does not restore functionality. It does reset the selection, until I move the mouse.
The only solution to this is to drop to console and reboot.
This is potentially a security vulnerability. Users that are not familiar with using the keyboard to get around GNOME will find themselves unable to minimize applications or 'lock the screen'. This may leave sensitive information up on their screen.
Thanks for the great distro and sorry I can not give you more to go on. This has happened to me about 10 times since the final release. Fortunately, I have been using Linux since '94 (I remember the floppies) and have been able to recover work despite this mouse problem. Others that are not so savvy, WILL loose their work. As an example, if the problem chose to show itself as I type this into the form on the bug submission page, I would not be able to submit, nor would I be able recover these words...
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: 48d893255053224631a12a7b4064254b
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
Date: Thu May 20 08:25:25 2010
DkmsStatus:
nvidia-current, 195.36.15, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
virtualbox-ose, 3.1.6, 2.6.32-21-generic, x86_64: installed
virtualbox-ose, 3.1.6, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta amd64 (20100406.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Precision M6300
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=a4dabb68-bcd9-43ee-8eb0-ea2314865565 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=en_US.utf8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
dmi.bios.date: 05/16/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A10
dmi.board.name: 0WY897
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA10:bd05/16/2008:svnDellInc.:pnPrecisionM6300:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0WY897:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Precision M6300
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
distro: Ubuntu
codename: lucid
architecture: x86_64
kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic
It happened again to me today. I was writing an email in Evolution when I lost my left mouse click. However, this time I found a way to "fix the glitch". I unplugged the mouse then plugged it back in. It is a USB mouse. The act of replugging it fixed the loss of left click. Perhaps I have a bad mouse? I will try a different mouse and see if tis remedies the problem.