OS stops receiving left (primary) mouse click

I've got a frustrating problem that seems to have cropped up within the last two months or so.

Infrequently, the left (primary) click stops registering with the OS, so I can't really click on anything. My mouse moves around the screen, I can right (secondary) click, but I just can't perform a primary click.

I'm running 10.6.8 on an Early 2011 MacBook Pro (http://support.apple.com/kb/SP619). The click stops registering both on the trackpad and my Magic Mouse.

A restart solves the problem.

Any ideas?

Solution 1:

I had this same problem: no mouse devices registered a left click (internal trackpad, external trackpad, USB mouse). Right click, oddly, worked.

It turned out I had a Magic Mouse I had left in a bag that was turned on. It was compressed which registered as a button press, so no other mice/trackpads could register a left click. Taking it out and turning it off solved the issue.

I guess OS X doesn't differentiate between input devices.

Solution 2:

Check that your external trackpad that you now rarely use does not have a book on it! That’s what confused me for at least 10minutes

Solution 3:

• Double check that you don't have any stuck keys on your keyboard by testing all the keys, particularly the modifiers (shift, option, etc).
• Make sure there aren't any wizards, alerts, or dialogs hidden behind existing windows or in other spaces (this one gets me often, especially running the odd mix of programs I use daily).

Solution 4:

I posted this in another thread, It fixed the single click issue for me.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/130552/78030