Left mouse button not working in Xubuntu session

xubuntu mouse

6,232

Solution 1

Check if you have xserver-xorg-input-evdev installed on your system:

sudo dpkg -s xserver-xorg-input-evdev

If yes, do:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa  
sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get upgrade

If no, do:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa  
sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-evdev

Reboot.

Solution 2

Your left mouse button might be remapped or disabled. Try adjusting the configuration or resetting to defaults in the Xfce control panel, as described here:

http://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-settings/mouse

You can check the current mappings using the xinput command from the Terminal.

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Mouseemu virtual mouse                    id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ bcm5974                                   id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]

Look for your mouse in the list and note its id, presented as id=x; e.g., 11

The use xinput again to get the current button map:

$ xinput get-button-map 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

If the first number is "0", your mouse button 1 is disabled. Test re-enabling it with:

$ xinput set-button-map 11 1

Remember to replace "11" with the mouse's id from xinput list.

If this gets reset every time you login to your desktop, see if there's a file in your home directory called ".xinputrc" or a directory called .xinput.d/ containing files. Also see if there's an errant ".xinitrc" that might have xinput commands.

6,232

Author by

giodamelio

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

giodamelio almost 2 years

I recent changed from Ubuntu to Xubuntu 12.04. The install worked great for a few days, but suddenly the left mouse button stopped working. The right click and scroll bars work fine.

After a bit of experimenting I discovered that the problem only happens when I set the session to Xubuntu at login. The mouse also works fine in my dual-booted Windows vista.

What could make my mouse stop working like that?
- Mitch almost 12 years
  
  Can you post the contents of /etc/X11/xorg.conf?
- giodamelio almost 12 years
  
  That file does not exist on my system. Weird.
- Mitch almost 12 years
  
  Try sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
- giodamelio almost 12 years
  
  Nope it opens me up for a new file.
- Noble P. Abraham almost 12 years
  
  X now automatically configures itself, see this wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config, so you will not see /etc/X11/xorg.conf. To create a new one use sudo Xorg :1 -configure
m. öztürk almost 12 years

Because this is a known issue, and this PPA will hopefully fix the problem.
Eric almost 12 years

If this is a known issue, there should be a launchpad bug number. Since the problem only exists under the Xubuntu session, replacing the entire X stack sounds extreme.
m. öztürk almost 12 years

Thanks for the upvote, this means that my method helped you?
Aditya over 11 years

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.