left mouse button ignored

[drhex]

After a random amount of time, the left mouse button gets ignored, regardless of where one tries to click. The other mouse buttons still work. It does not seem to be connected to any particular application. I never saw the problem in 10.04 or 10.10, but it happens nearly daily in 11.04. (both 32- and 64-bit)
I suspect it could be caused by the system failing to notice a key/button release and so try to get out if it by pressing all the keyboard modifier keys and all mouse buttons one by one. Doing so sometimes helps, other times a reboot is needed to get the left mouse button back.
As a test, I started "xev" while the system was affected by the bug. It gives ButtonPress and ButtonRelease events for most mouse buttons, but no event is generated when pressing the left button.
I don't think it is a hardware problem as I've seen it on two computers with different mice.
There is a discussion thread devoted to the issue too: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1750236

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: unity 3.8.16-0ubuntu1~natty1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-10.46-generic 2.6.38.7
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-10-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,compiztoolbox,snap,move,imgpng,gnomecompat,vpswitch,regex,mousepoll,place,resize,unitymtgrabhandles,session,wall,animation,workarounds,expo,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
Date: Thu Aug 18 18:06:51 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426)
InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.38-10.46-generic 2.6.38.7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
---
Architecture: amd64
DistroCodename: natty
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu12
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.48-generic 2.6.38.8
Tags: natty running-unity ubuntu
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic x86_64
UnreportableReason: Please work this issue through technical support channels first.
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
---
Architecture: i386
DistroCodename: natty
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu12
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.48-generic 2.6.38.8
Tags: natty running-unity ubuntu
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic i686
UnreportableReason: Please work this issue through technical support channels first.
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Shaheed Haque (srhaque-i)]

Symptoms just like drhex, and also the forum posting cited.

- Running fully patched 11.04 Kubuntu, with backports.
- Thinkpad W500

The mouse works fine under gpmouse on the text console, but left button clicks have no effect. I've tried unloading and reloading psmouse, hid, usbhid. A logout/login was able to clear this situation until just now, when even logout/login, reboot, or a cold restart all failed. (Am now entering this report from another system!).

[Shaheed Haque (srhaque-i)]

- I can confirm that in the broken state, xev sees no ButtonPress events from the left button

- installing/reinstalling inputattach as suggested in some places made no difference

[K (ketonf)]

Affects me too. Makes my computer inoperable (I am on my playbook).

[Shaheed Haque (srhaque-i)]

Today, discovered that the problem (for me at least) is not simply that the system either starts off wit the left click not working, or that it goes from working to non-working. I have also seen it go from non-working to working. So the problem is not just "something getting stuck" - it can go as well as come.

Also, when my system was in the broken state last night, I tried:

- booting from a 11.04 USB stick.

- installing the above (without updates) to a spare partition.

- upgrading the above to the current oneiric alpha.

The xorg mouse continued to be broken in all cases.

[Shaheed Haque (srhaque-i)]

[ Seems SOLVED, for me at least ]

First I installed evtest ("aptitude install evtest"), and then by trying each input device in turn [1], found the one that my Synaptics touchpad was connected to would not respond to the left button:

root@shahhaqu-w500:~# evtest /dev/input/event7
Input driver version is 1.0.1
Input device ID: bus 0x11 vendor 0x2 product 0x7 version 0x1b1
Input device name: "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
Supported events:
  Event type 0 (Sync)
  Event type 1 (Key)
    Event code 272 (LeftBtn)
    Event code 273 (RightBtn)
    Event code 325 (ToolFinger)
    Event code 330 (Touch)
  Event type 3 (Absolute)
    Event code 0 (X)
      Value 5557
      Min 1472
      Max 5598
    Event code 1 (Y)
      Value 4803
      Min 1408
      Max 4670
    Event code 24 (Pressure)
      Value 0
      Min 0
      Max 255
    Event code 28 (Tool Width)
      Value 0
      Min 0
      Max 15
Testing ... (interrupt to exit)
Event: time 1313919894.959784, type 1 (Key), code 273 (RightBtn), value 1
Event: time 1313919894.959793, -------------- Report Sync ------------
Event: time 1313919895.138543, type 1 (Key), code 273 (RightBtn), value 0
Event: time 1313919895.138548, -------------- Report Sync ------------

Plenty of right button ok, but no left button events. I disassembled the front of the case, and noticed that the cable/flexible PCB that connected it was creased and twisted. Untwisting the cable seems to have done the trick. Then I remembered that for a recent memory upgrade, the tech had opened this exact part of the case...

At any rate, evetest allowed me to see this was happening before the X server.

[1] The numberig of the device seems to vary from boot to boot for me.

[Shaheed Haque (srhaque-i)]

The problem is back for me. I'm going to try swapping the hardware...

[Nebelmann (nebelmann)]

It happened to me today, and after trying a few modprobes, I finally got my left/right clicks and mouse wheel back thanks to xev. I launched it in a terminal and tried some random mouse actions until it worked again. I have no idea whether or not the previous modprobes have an impact on this.

I attached the output of xev, in cas it can be useful.

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

The left mouse button became unresponsive today, so I ran "evtest" as hinted above.
That program does detect my clicks on the left mouse button, even though nothing else in the system does.

evtest /dev/input/event4

When pressing the left mouse button:
Event: time 1315039419.170692, type 4 (Misc), code 4 (ScanCode), value 90001
Event: time 1315039419.170698, type 1 (Key), code 272 (LeftBtn), value 1

When releasing it:
Event: time 1315039419.290681, type 4 (Misc), code 4 (ScanCode), value 90001
Event: time 1315039419.290689, type 1 (Key), code 272 (LeftBtn), value 0

Also ran evtest while the mouse works fine, and the same values are printed.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

drhex: please run 'apport-collect 828893'. Can you reproduce it with another desktop session (unity-2d, ...)?

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

apport information

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

apport information

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

Timo, I have run apport-collect from the two machines were I've seen the problem.
Will try to run unity-2d for a while and see if it happens there too.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Hmm, it should've added a lot more to the bug.. You should then attach /var/log/Xorg.0.log manually, and check the mouse device from 'xinput list' and run 'xinput list-props <id> > xinput.txt', and attach xinput.txt as well.

this might be something in the session breaking it.. you could also try with a fresh user account if it can be reproduced.

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

The lines from [132546.244] and forward in the attached Xorg.0.log comes from after the bug had appeared - I plugged in another mouse, and its left button was also unresponsive.

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

>xinput list | head -3 # the lines that look relevant
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech USB RECEIVER id=10 [slave pointer (2)]

>xinput list-props 2 4 10 > /tmp/xinput.txt # the attached file

[drhex (joakim-rosqvist)]

I've been running Unity-2D for a few weeks now, and the bug did not occur there.

[Jim Lellman (jiml27)]

This is killing me. Unable to get left mouse button working again after recent kernel update. Uninstalled evdev and reinstalled, now computer does not finish boot.

[Jim Lellman (jiml27)]

Reinstalled Xorg, computer booted,mouse working again

[Jim Lellman (jiml27)]

Left click stopped working again

[Jim Lellman (jiml27)]

It seems the bug thinks it was fixed. Any idea how to obtain the fix?

[kolleykibber (fergus-f)]

I have this problem on a Toshiba nb520 upgraded from 13.04 to 13.10

[Ryan Konkolewski (ryankonkolewski)]

God knows why this was set to "Fix Released". Bug is clearly still present, nearly three years after the bug was first reported.

[Matthias Homann (palto)]

I also seem to have this bug on Ubuntu 12.04 since the upgrade to HWE Trusty and on Lubuntu 14.04. I also see this bug if my Bluetooth mouse is configured. As soon as I remove my Bluetooth mouse from the configuration left key works agains with other USB mouses and the touchpad.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xserver-xorg-input-evdev (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]