Input works great for the first couple of mouse clicks, and then the pointer will move but no clicks are registered. Can not click start menu, Cannot Close windows, Cannot click desktop icons. Keyboard navigation works perfectly. Oddly enough, I can still click on the desktop and draw rectangles, but nothing else seems to work. I cannot even click with a USB mouse.
This is not an OS-related issue. I have the same problem in Linux under both KDE and GNOME desktop environments. I can point both with the trackpad and the pointing stick, but I cannot click anything--not even with a USB mouse. removing the keyboard allows full mouse movement, and there are no problems clicking (in Linux and Windows)
I booted to Dell Diagnostics, and ran a test on the pointing devices. The first part checks the trackpad only, and seems to be good on tracking as well as both lower mouse buttons. The 2nd part checks the pointing stick and its buttons. The test checks tracking by having you drag the cursor to a box in the middle of the screen. There are 3 boxes that turn green when you click the left, center, and right buttons respectively. ******* When I drag the cursor into the box, immediately the middle buttons turns green and says "OK", even though I'm not pushing it.************
^^^ This made me think that my inability to click is caused by a faulty middle button, which is registering as being constantly pressed. I bought a replacement keyboard, but i still have the same problem--exactly the same problem.
This is certainly a hardware issue. I want to know if anyone has encountered this before. What exactly would I replace?? The trackpad+palmrest? The motherboard??
I found a similar issue at this website: http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/273302-latitude-e6500-mouse-and-touchpad-input-stop-working
but his issue seemed to be windows- or driver-related. Otherwise, the symptoms seem to be spot on.
Please help!