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Mouse deselects active window, wont respond until ctrl alt del
Mouse deselects active window, wont respond until ctrl alt del
- The problem that I'm having is that my mouse sporadically "unfocuses" my current active window when I click, and will not interact with anything onscreen. The computer isn't freezing, you can still move the mouse but can’t click on anything. You also can’t click and drag. Also the mouse looks like a standard pointer, not the spinning blue circle. There is no visible active window, it's as if there is an invisible window on top of everything else, that stops the clicks from going through. When this happens, mousing over things doesn't provoke a response; For instance - Mousing over a link in a webpage doesn't turn the cursor into a hand signifying a clickable link. The keyboard still responds perfectly, and all programs continue running normally. This occurs at any given time, while on or offline.
When this problem happens, I can press ctrl-alt-delete, and click once anywhere on that blue screen to make the mouse begin to respond again. Then I click cancel and go back to whatever I was doing for anywhere between 5 seconds and 30 minutes when the problem happens again
This computer is virus free, and I've seen others have this problem on a fresh install of Windows Vista. I have tried this mouse in other computers, and the problem doesn't happen. I've also tried other mice in this computer and it still occurs. I've been told by other who have the same problem that it "Happens with touchpads, pointing stick, wireless mouse, wired USB mouse", and possibly others as well. I'm running an OEM Windows Vista Home Premium, fully updated, MSI K9N4 SLI Motherboard, AMD 4600+ processor, Razor Deathadder mouse, Logitech G15 Keyboard, ATI Radeon 4870 HD Graphics card, and 4GB Mushkin ddr2 sdram. It also occured with 2gb of corsair ram and an 8800gts graphics card.
If you have any questions concerning hardware/software/what i had for breakfast, I'll gladly answer.
If you have any ideas, I will pretty much try anything at this point.
As of now, I have tried every idea at this website - http://blog.bidenpc.com/267/vista-mouse-cant-click/ - to no avail.
Thank you for your time, please help if you can.
Answers
If this is the case, I suspect this can be a hardware related issue. We can try a parallel install - install a new system on another partition to check if this is related to hardware.
Sean Zhu - MSFT- Marked As Answer bySean Zhu -MSFT, ModeratorTuesday, April 14, 2009 2:37 AM
All Replies
As of now, I have tried every idea at this website - http://blog.bidenpc.com/267/vista-mouse-cant-click/ - to no avail.
So have you tried this under Safe Mode and what's the result? Does the issue occur under Safe Mode?
Sean Zhu - MSFT- The issue occurs in safe mode, yes.
Thanks for the feedback. I suggest you check the power of the USB port:
1. Click Start, type devmgmt.msc in Start Search and press Enter.
2. Expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers".
3. Right click on each USB Root Hub, choose Properties.
4. Under Power tab, check if required power exceeded total available power 500mA.
If this is the case, please try other USB ports and see the result.
Sean Zhu - MSFT- I thank you for your response and for trying to help. =) I checked the power for each USB Root Hub, and the required power was always exactly equal to the total power available, or 0. I tried a different USB port, just in case, but the issue still occurs.
If this is the case, I suspect this can be a hardware related issue. We can try a parallel install - install a new system on another partition to check if this is related to hardware.
Sean Zhu - MSFT- Marked As Answer bySean Zhu -MSFT, ModeratorTuesday, April 14, 2009 2:37 AM
- I think was able to confirm that it is a hardware related issue; While installing another copy of Windows Vista on a completely separate hard drive, with the original one disconnected, the issue occurred during the first screen of the installation, where you select the Language, Time&Currency and Keyboard/Input Method of the installation. Do you have any idea which piece of hardware might be causing this problem? Thanks again for your continued support.
For the current symptom, I consider this can be a hardware issue with mainboard or USB ports on the mainboard.
Sean Zhu - MSFT- Alrighty, I may have another mainboard somewhere to replace it with. If I do, and the issue goes away, I will confirm. Thanks for the help
- I most likely have the same problem on Vista 32 and a wired Logitech USB optical mouse.
For the last years my system worked fine. A couple of weeks ago - I can't remember any special circumstances - it suddenly happened that I couldn't activate one or more windows with mouse clicks - or drag/resize them. It seems the "active state" switches back and forth between two windows or "levels" (when there is only the taskbar and the desktop) with each click, somewhat similar to ALT-Tabbing.
Opening and closing the task manager temporarily solves the problem.
It happens randomly and in random intervals. It happens even right at start-up so that I cannot click on icons in the quickstart menu.
While I e.g. can use the mouse clicks on desktop items, the items in the taskbar won't react - or vice versa.
I run windows with - say - standard applications, my system is always up to date, I have no fancy programs/hardware installed other than stuff from renowned companies as Microsoft, Adobe, Mozzilla, Skype, Logitech, nvidia-Drivers etc. and one or two games. A virus check didn't reveal any problems. While playing a mouse driven game I didn't have problems so far, only on desktop.
I tried closing windows processes, but the 2 or 3 I can close with still being able to use the computer seem to have no effect.
I'm glad to see I'm not alone, so there might be someone finding the cause of this. Maybe it was the Vista ServicePack or some other update, who knows.
While the problem persists, navigation with the keyboard is entirely possible.
Why would that be a hardware problem, if a) others have it too and b) everything worked fine until now? Finally! this is the only page on google that actually has the right problem!
ok exactly as you described, you're just working away at anything, sometimes nothing and the next click doesnt work! and you realise that its frozen itself again. you can keep clicking all over the place but nothing works, so you press alt-control-delete then click cancel twice and then everythings ok!
and you can count out hardware error btw
i have a laptop and it does this with the touchpad or the plug-in mouse.
i have no virus's or malware to cause this. and since one of my mates who also has vista (one of the few that changed from XP) comes across exactly the same problem.
i'm just hoping windows 7 will fix most of these problems...though if anyone does have a magic solution i'll take that too- i am so glad i am not alone. i thought i was going crazy. It seems that one window or process - either one of my open windows or the taskbar or explorer itself - via clicking on the background - can have the mouse focus and will not let it go - it just gets stuck. if i alt-tab, it will switch focus, and i can type commands, Function-key combinations, etc. but if i try to click on the window, it will not respond. the mouse focus stays with the window that previously had it - even though the key-focus has moved.
i have a dell inspiron, windows vista with latest updates, and am running a western digital hard external portable drive, ms-wireless keyboard and mouse, and have a fujitsu scan-snap scanner (although the last is not currently plugged in). i have 2gb of ram.
i just hope its a driver or update or something like a registry fix! any clues would be appreciated.
UPDATE: Using ctrl-esc cleared this up - temporarily at least- Proposed As Answer byjetlagQ Wednesday, August 19, 2009 11:11 AM
- I have solved my problem. Not sure if I can help narrow down yours.
I tested my mouse on another computer and lo and behold! The same problem occured. Hence I knew the mouse was the problem.
My mouse had buttons on the left and right side (standard bindings "back" and "forward"). It seems the right "forward" button sent signals withoug being pressed. You can try this if you hold down this button - left clicks won't work anymore.
Instead of CTRL+ALT+DEL I could now press the "forward" button to temporarily "reset" the sending of the signal, but as the mouse obviously was defect, the problem occured again in random intervals.
Now I have a new mouse and the problem is solved for me.
So maybe this will help: Try finding out if your mouse has a malfunctioning button, that is sending signals without being pressed. I guess if the mouse is doing this on a laptop, it would also affect the touchpad buttons not working or vice versa.
Good luck! I am joining this thread because I had elxactly the same problem, and I mean exactly until CTRL Alt DEL quit working altogether. I took my new ACER latptop with Vista back to the seller, It was gone a month ad they finally repleaced the hard drive. It worked famously for 1 month, and today, the problem has begun again. This might be a clue for all of us. REplacing the hard drive was only a temp. fix. ANy thoughts?
- Please keep this thread going!
I have the same problem except the touchpad won't click at all straight away so I have to press enter to get into my user account then I must go into task manager in order for the left click to work - after that only left click works! So I have not right click and I cannot tap to click on the touchpad (though I can scroll up and down on the side of the touchpad). Very annoying! - I understand this is Vista forums, but as it was mentioned earlier, I wanted to confirm this happens also on Windows 7.
I am having exactly this same issue on my brand new HP EliteBook 2530p running a fresh Windows 7 Enterprise installation. It doesn't matter if I'm using an external USB mouse, the integrated TouchStyk or TouchPad, the UI just becomes "unclickable".
When I was in Firefox with mouse gestures enabled, I noticed that for moments when this problem occurred, the red lines were drawn in the browser meaning that it was like right mouse button was pushed down (which it physically wasn't).
Whenever this problem occurs, I am able to switch between apps with keyboard shortcuts and move the mouse cursor. It is only the mouse clicking that seems not to be working.
A workaround is to ctrl-alt-del and then escape when ever this happens, but this is far from an ideal fix :)
MCTS: OCS - noooooooooooooooo damn i thought a new operating system would solve the problem!
grrrrrrr well nothing so far has worked, i disabled that link scanner as well but still it freezes and im left clicking pointlessly till i sigh, ctrl alt delete, then click escape.
ok so though we're all getting tired of this lets run through it quickly
we all have windows (in some form)
we all have AVG?
Internet browser doesnt matter
hardware doesnt matter
its definately a software issue. and something we all have... - I've had the same problem, but only for a month or two; leading me to believe that it was related to a software update. Tonight, the trouble began when I fired up Skype.
Can only be resolved by crtl+alt+delete. I have been hovering and then clicking on start task manager before it works. I haven't tried to just hit escape.
Running Vista, AVG, Skype, and a wireless keyboard and mouse (but I believe that has been thrown out).
Following with interest! - I have had the same problem with the mouse except that mine won't wake up after going into the sleep mode. I bought a new computer (Compaq Presario) about 1 1/2 months ago with Vista Home Premium on it. Everything worked fine until the Vista Service Pak 2 update--that was when the mouse did not work any more. I did do a system restore and it did fix it; however, then Vista said my system restore didn't work properly so I set it back to the update. I'm thinking about removing the update and seeing. I do not run AVG on my computer--Norton is what I have. I believe this is another Vista issue--truly hate this OS!
10-13-09
Today I uninstalled my Windows Vista Service Pack 2 as that is when my problem started with my mouse and computer not waking up. IT WORKED! My computer is back to normal after the sleep mode. Mouse wakes up just fine. I will live without the service pack 2 because I should be upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as it is out. I hope this helps others.- Proposed As Answer bytonitiger7 Wednesday, October 14, 2009 1:33 AM
- Edited bytonitiger7 Wednesday, October 14, 2009 1:35 AM
- Aaaah, Finally found this posting.
I'm having the exact same problem as the once described above.
Haven't thought about switching mices because it also happens on the touchpad of my Acer laptop.
What Grumbleindabronx told about his mouse buttons sending signals give me some thought.
It sometimes happens when i'm browsing on the internet, when reading a website, the browser goes back to the previeus one at once. Without me touching an button. So maybe i have the same problem he/she has. Only with my backbutton.
I also have a logitech marble mouse with navigation buttons.
What i have tryed without succes:
De-install all virus software
Install SP3 and all available MS updates
disabled all startup programs and services not needed to run a bare Vista system
Disconnected from internet/network for a whole evening
But for now i'm still having this problem.
So add me to the "problemlist"
- Don't know if this helps, but my middle click button has also stopped working since this problem has started. I cannot use the middle click in any of the programs that used to have specific "middle click" operations (e.g. Firefox: Open new link in new tab, Google Earth: tilt from horizontal. etc.). It seems like these problems started to happen at the same time.
/Using a wireless keyboard and mouse; Microsoft Keyboard 6000 (v3.0) and Mouse 6000 (v2.0) - I have a user who is experiencing the same problem. He has a laptop and a brand new desktop, both running Windows XP Pro. His old desktop died, hence the new desktop. He was using a Belking KVM to switch the keyboard and mouse back and forth between the two computers. He uses a macally trackball.
This user started having trouble on his laptop. On the day I delivered his new desktop, he flipped the keyboard and mouse over to the desktop, so that I could use them. He then turned back to his laptop and showed me this "freezing" issue. Ctrl-Alt-Del did not resolve it, but opening the task manager did. Leaving the task manager opened and Alt-Tabbing to it also resolves the issue. Note that this problem was with the trackpad.
As soon as I got his new desktop plugged in, the same problem started happening. He had a theory about a certain piece of software causing the issue, but I hadn't installed that software on the desktop. I had been working on the desktop in my office with my own mouse for several days with no problem, but within 30 minutes of placing it in his office, the issue was apparent.
I have tried taking the KVM out of the mix, which did not resolve the issue. I am going to have him test another mouse, but hearing about so many others who are having the same problem makes this seem like random hardware failure and more like a Windows issue. - I would also like to report this same issue in Windows 7 RTM x64 using a brand new SideWinder X8 mouse and the IntelliPoint 7.0 x64 software. The mouse randomly is locking up (can still move it, but cannot 'click'/select anything)...even as I type this. I've been using the RTM since its release and the Betas/RC before that using a Optical Logitech mouse with zero problem. I recently just purchased this mouse (I've had it for approx 5 days) only to find a few days later without prior issue, a probelm to arise at startup and durring usage of my desktop. To make things more clear, if I discontinue use of the X8 and switch back to my Logitech, using the same USB port, the problem no longer persists. I've tried to uninstall the Intelipoint software, clear the registry, folder etc to no avail. This ctrl-alt-del obviously was my first thought since I couldn't click anything and has proven to be the only solution thus far, sad.
That would be great if we could get some reps/mods to respond to this thread with some fixes/theories....at the very least. - I had this problem too, but then it seemed to be my mouse.
- Proposed As Answer byMark Main Saturday, November 07, 2009 1:10 AM
- By any chance are you folks using a docking station? My problems seems to only happen when docked.
This problem can be pinpointed to a specific button on the mouse -- to troubleshoot, begin disabling buttons on your mouse such as the side buttons or the middle button until the problem goes away. If using a laptop, disable the onboard nub, buttons and even the trackpad entirely before trying an external mouse. The problem occurs when a “sticky button” interferes with standard mouse operations – so if the middle button is randomly depressed, this will cause unintended mouse operation such as focus issues and will seem to be intermittent. If the problem is with a trackpad middle button for instance, an external mouse would also succumb to the anomaly unless the onboard trackpad buttons are disabled.
- Hey, same thing happened to about 2 months ago. I run on vista. Tried a fresh OS install on a different partition, didnt work. I went and reformated the whole HD, It happened at first but then it stopped, so I stoped worrying about it.
Now this week the problem started again. Exactly as described above in the first posts. The active window seemed to remain active even when clicked. I'd say its the active object that remains active. For example in the browser. The browser window was an object and the tab was another object. So if I could click the browser buttons, adress bar (the stuff on the actuall window) I could not work on the tab. However when I could click stuff on the tab I could not click the browser buttons. Also note that even if you had the tab bar as the active object, flash objects like movies or ads where like a different layer, so to use them you had to go trough the taks manager window.
The desktop was the same. The task bar and desktop where 2 different objects. So to change between them I had to use the Task Manager fix (Open task manager, click the window, choose your next active window).
Anyway after reading this I though maybe it was a Mouse hardware problem. Sometimes when I hovered the mouse over other objects that where supposed to become active if I clicked them I saw a wierd little box.
http://i46.tinypic.com/bh0gnb.jpg
I'm not sure what it is. Like a mouse button is pressed, sticky keys or the mouse middle button.
So I took my logitech wireless mouse to my housemate's laptop to test it out. Figures, his laptop also went haywire.
I don't know much about computers, but I think plug n play devices have the drivers stored inside them. So its probably that the divice had a driver problem or an electrical problem inside that cuased it to go haywire.
So now I'm using an old usb infrared mouse and havent had the problem since then. (about 1 hour)
On a note, when I started to have the problem I used a ps/2 bus mouse to check if it was my usb mouse's fault (But I left my usb mouse plugged). However it seems that even if you unplug the USB mouse the problem will continue until you restart the computer with the USB mouse unpluged. Just hope this helps if anybody has the same problem. - Hmmm interesting, well i can't see why my touchpad, not mouse would be causing this. But I can disable the touchpad using a keyboard shortcut, then use my plug in mouse...Tell us how it goes with a new mouse.
Don't know if this helps, but my middle click button has also stopped working since this problem has started. I cannot use the middle click in any of the programs that used to have specific "middle click" operations (e.g. Firefox: Open new link in new tab, Google Earth: tilt from horizontal. etc.). It seems like these problems started to happen at the same time.
Damn, exactly the same pattern with mine! The middle click will not work after the problem happens. I use wireless Microsoft Keyboard 700 (v2.0) and Mouse 700 (v2.0). Normally, when I press a key on keyboard or click/move/scroll the mouse, a green LED on wireless receiver will blink indicating that signal has been received. However after this problem, when I click the middle scroll, there's no light, i.e no signal transmitted from the mouse??
/Using a wireless keyboard and mouse; Microsoft Keyboard 6000 (v3.0) and Mouse 6000 (v2.0)
I bought my desktop computer haft a year ago, and using Windows 7 RC x64 until I upgraded it to Professional RTM x64 version last month.
I hardly turn off my computer, never change connections of USB ports, and system always runs smoothly. There was no such problem until yesterday, when I upgraded AVG free edition from 8.5 to 9.0 and installed some email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird.
I also found that the UI is not totally "unclickable", there is actually a "clickable" window or object that you can activate it and click. That window could be the desktop wall, taskbar or any other activated window. I also saw a little box (Doji Lolazo http://i46.tinypic.com/bh0gnb.jpg) when a Firefox tab is the clickable object.
Thank God I found this page to realize I'm not a loner.
