Left-click misbehaving both on touchpad and wired optical mouse

jmebluis · 24 Jan 2013

I have a Dell XPS 14z which is about 11 months old. I have Windows 7. I am having trouble with left-clicking.

I first noticed the problem while working in AutoCAD. I suddenly stopped being able to use my left-click button at all. I hit ctrl+S to save so that I could reboot, hoping the button would resume functioning when I restarted. Strangely left-click immediately started working again. Initially I only had this problem in AutoCAD. The semester ended and I stopped using AutoCAD. I was assuming that there was a problem with that program and planned to reinstall before the next (this) semester of school.

Then, I started experiencing left-click problems while browsing the internet, I use Chrome. I do tend to open a lot of tabs at a time when I am running a search, don't know if this is relevant. Left-click sometimes would randomly stop working, sometimes it would just lag - click..... wait.... action long after expected, sometimes it would randomly also start working again. Sometimes when using the left button to drag a scroll bar in chrome it would "stick" (the function would stay on, the button did not appear to be physically stuck and this happens with mouse or touchpad) and moving the cursor away from the scroll bar would navigate the page up and down. The non functional left-click problem would also occur in Windows, when I would say attempt to go into device manager to see what was up.

***I should also mention that when the left-click on the touch pad stops working double tapping the touchpad also stops working.***

I have tried:

connecting a wired optical mouse - same issue occurs with the external mouse, though sometimes either the left-click on the mouse or touchpad will work while the other doesn't, both or neither will work

playing with the mouse click settings, faster and slower double click - no luck

updating the mouse and touchpad drivers - they report that they are up to date

rolling back the drivers

uninstalling the mouse

going back to a restore point before the problem

I saw one post which suggested that the display driver caused a similar problem, I have updated my display drivers

I saw a post responding to a similar problem but only in internet browser, one reply suggested reregistering the dll for the mouse in IE. I tried this, didn't work - is there a dll which would address my problems?

Any suggestions? This seems like a hardware issue to me because both the touchpad and external mouse have the same problem? Agree/Disagree? I can do a system recovery or reformat if necessary, just looking for a way to avoid that if possible. I did manage to limp through backing everything up.

Thanks in advance!!!

ICIT2LOL · 25 Jan 2013

Hello and welcome JM looks like you have tried just about everything maybe you are looking at a warranty job my friend because I was going to suggest cleaning the mouse but if the same thing happens with the touch pad then that isn't much help.

If most of the drivers or whatever software fixes have not worked then just maybe a problem with the internal connections as you say a hardware issue, it only takes one dry joint or a dodgy cap to throw the whole thing out.

By the way you haven't spilt anything on the machine or dropped it or maybe a voltage spike if you have been using the mains adaptor without a surge protection device?

jmebluis · 26 Jan 2013

Thanks ICit2lol. I did accidentally set the laptop down hard the other day (though it already had this issue) and I don't use a surge protector. I need to talk to Dell about replacing my power cord anyway.

I did one more thing. I switched left- and right-click in the mouse options. Atm both touchpad buttons are working as are both mouse buttons, though the touchpad buttons reversed and the mouse buttons stayed in the old configuration.

ICIT2LOL · 26 Jan 2013

Hum you might just have to do that by the way what is wrong with the power cord? If you have access to a multimeter just test the volts - that doesn't mean it will have the current but if the volts are out of whack then it might be a pointer.

Oh and please get a surge protector JM I always have them with at very minimum 1600 joules protection - 3200 is best.

Another little tutorial you might find helpful SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker its worth a try:)

jmebluis · 26 Jan 2013

My power cord quit on me. Suddenly stopped working. That may actually have been the day that the mouse first acted up btw. I was plugged in and working on a project for school and all of a sudden I get a "you must plug in" message. I fiddled around with the cord, it hadn't been disconnected and the outlet had power. As I had a deadline for school I panicked for a minute until I realized that I had a universal cord from my old laptop, and that has worked since. I just want to replace the cord before warranty is up next month (also want to extend warranty, but they will not do it while there is an open ticket.)

On the cord topic Dell has had me:

Check if LED lights on cord when plugged in - no
Update Bios via their link
Check battery status - "battery is healthy"
Check AC adapter status - [not detected] (though when the other cord is plugged in that is detected)

So as I tried to tell them in my first email, I would like a new cord. Aaaand with the mouse issue likely being hardware I probably should have them send out a tech with that cord.