Mouse stuck in a strange mode

[theepdinker]

My mouse clicks are stuck in a strange mode. I now have to hold down Ctrl and/or Shift to make it select like it used to (and I am getting tired of pressing those for every click). If I don't press one of those keys, I just get a hand cursor that can re-position a window, but not select things.

This started when I installed the sugar-emulator-0.88 via the Synaptic Package Manager (Ubuntu 10.04). The Sugar emulator runs in a Zephyr window, and one uses Ctrl-Shift mouse clicks to shift between emulator window and native window. So, I suspect some bug got the mouse stuck in an odd-ball mode.

I tried un-installing the Sugar emulator, but that didn't help.

Anyone know how to get the mouse back to a "normal" mode?

[sandyd]

My mouse clicks are stuck in a strange mode. I now have to hold down Ctrl and/or Shift to make it select like it used to (and I am getting tired of pressing those for every click). If I don't press one of those keys, I just get a hand cursor that can re-position a window, but not select things.

This started when I installed the sugar-emulator-0.88 via the Synaptic Package Manager (Ubuntu 10.04). The Sugar emulator runs in a Zephyr window, and one uses Ctrl-Shift mouse clicks to shift between emulator window and native window. So, I suspect some bug got the mouse stuck in an odd-ball mode.

I tried un-installing the Sugar emulator, but that didn't help.

Anyone know how to get the mouse back to a "normal" mode?
I think it killed the mouse bindings...
try


sudo apt-get install sugar-emulator-0.88
sudo dpkg --purge sugar-emulator-0.88

[theepdinker]

Thanks, I tried that, but it didn't fix it

[jtarin]

Try Systems>ControlCenter>Personal>KeyboardShortcuts. See if your shortcut is bound there.
Also look in /home/username/.configs to see if any sugar configs were left over. Maybe it has its own folder in the /home/username. And System>Preferences>StartupApplications and look for associations.

[theepdinker]

Thank you, I just tried your suggestions but the mouse is still in the strange mode.

The mouse appears to be in a Macintosh emulation mode. Anyone know how to get it out of that mode?
Or is that not the cause of my problem?

don@ubuntu:~$ lshal | grep mouse
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)
info.product = 'Macintosh mouse button emulation' (string)
input.product = 'Macintosh mouse button emulation' (string)
info.product = 'IBM Enhanced (101/102-key, PS/2 mouse support)' (string)
pnp.description = 'IBM Enhanced (101/102-key, PS/2 mouse support)' (string)
info.linux.driver = 'psmouse' (string)
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)
don@ubuntu:~$

[jtarin]

Not a solution.....10.04 doesn't have HAL they use UDEV.

[sandyd]

Thank you, I just tried your suggestions but the mouse is still in the strange mode.

The mouse appears to be in a Macintosh emulation mode. Anyone know how to get it out of that mode?
Or is that not the cause of my problem?

don@ubuntu:~$ lshal | grep mouse
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)
info.product = 'Macintosh mouse button emulation' (string)
input.product = 'Macintosh mouse button emulation' (string)
info.product = 'IBM Enhanced (101/102-key, PS/2 mouse support)' (string)
pnp.description = 'IBM Enhanced (101/102-key, PS/2 mouse support)' (string)
info.linux.driver = 'psmouse' (string)
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)
don@ubuntu:~$
can you post the output of


cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[jtarin]

can you post the output of

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Probably doesn't have one. He's running Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

Can you run this command:
xinput list | grep 'id='

[wojox]

Probably doesn't have one. He's running Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

Can you run this command:
xinput list | grep 'id='

If he's running a nvidia card/chip he has one. ;)

[pastalavista]

It sounds to me like one of your Alt keys is stuck.

[jmfal]

or try this ::::::::put new batteries in your mouse

[jtarin]

If he's running a nvidia card/chip he has one. ;)
No matter one way or the other....it's still UDEV and there's no need to edit anything....just run the command I gave you and let's see the output. I only need one number.

[salinmooch]

I ran into this exact issue tonight, also after installing the sugar-emulator (0.87-2) package on lucid. I uninstalled sugar and xephyr = no luck. I can operate normal clicks if I push the alt button down, if not it defaults to alt-click behavior. :(

Output of above commands:


lshal | grep mouse
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)
info.product = 'Macintosh mouse button emulation' (string)
input.product = 'Macintosh mouse button emulation' (string)
info.product = 'IBM Enhanced (101/102-key, PS/2 mouse support)' (string)
pnp.description = 'IBM Enhanced (101/102-key, PS/2 mouse support)' (string)
info.linux.driver = 'psmouse' (string)
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse', 'input.touchpad'} (string list)
info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)

:~$ xinput list | grep 'id='
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ PS/2 Mouse id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Macintosh mouse button emulation id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Chicony USB 2.0 Camera id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]

[jtarin]

See below

[jtarin]

Enter this command and check your mouse.
xinput set-button-map 11 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7then reboot and check again.

[salinmooch]

No joy. I tried:


xinput set-button-map 11 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7

followed by reboot and no luck. If it helps I started a guest session and did not have the stuck in "alt-click" problem, so I'm happy to copy over or delete whatever config file is causing this. Also, I do not understand the xinput output I posted above but I am only using the ALPS touchpad on this computer, I do not have any other mouse plugged in.

[jtarin]

No joy. I tried:


xinput set-button-map 11 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7

followed by reboot and no luck. If it helps I started a guest session and did not have the stuck in "alt-click" problem, so I'm happy to copy over or delete whatever config file is causing this. Also, I do not understand the xinput output I posted above but I am only using the ALPS touchpad on this computer, I do not have any other mouse plugged in.
Then

xinput set-button-map 12 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7If it works reboot and try again. If it stays...good if not we will try one other thing.

[salinmooch]

Followed your suggest and tried id 12 via:


xinput set-button-map 12 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7

No luck there. I did notice in gconf-editor there is still an entry for /desktop/sugar there are keys in /desktop/sugar/peripherals/keyboard/ but the keys within have no value.

Let me know what else to try. And thanks for the help!

[jtarin]

Post the output of
xinput list-props 12or

xinput list-props AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint

[salinmooch]

Out of curiosity I tried a brute force fix - I backed up my ~/.gconf directory, created a new user and copied the newuser's ~/.gconf over to my own directory and that fixed the 'alt-click' issue, :D of course reseting many of my settings. :(

I tried running gconf-cleaner on my original .gconf setup which removed a bunch of old keys - but it did not fix the mouse button issue.

So, it wouldn't take to long to redo my settings, but I'd rather just fix the faulty setting if I knew where it was!

[salinmooch]

Ok out put of the command (note, this is with the faulty .gconf):



xinput list-props 12
Device 'AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint':
Device Enabled (154): 1
Device Accel Profile (271): 0
Device Accel Constant Deceleration (272): 1.000000
Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (274): 1.000000
Device Accel Velocity Scaling (275): 10.000000
Synaptics Edges (289): 153, 870, 115, 652
Synaptics Finger (290): 12, 14, 127
Synaptics Tap Time (291): 180
Synaptics Tap Move (292): 56
Synaptics Tap Durations (293): 180, 180, 100
Synaptics Tap FastTap (294): 0
Synaptics Middle Button Timeout (295): 75
Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (296): 139
Synaptics Two-Finger Width (297): 7
Synaptics Scrolling Distance (298): 25, 25
Synaptics Edge Scrolling (299): 1, 0, 0
Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (300): 0, 0
Synaptics Move Speed (301): 0.400000, 0.700000, 0.039124, 40.000000
Synaptics Edge Motion Pressure (302): 14, 79
Synaptics Edge Motion Speed (303): 1, 102
Synaptics Edge Motion Always (304): 0
Synaptics Button Scrolling (305): 1, 1
Synaptics Button Scrolling Repeat (306): 1, 1
Synaptics Button Scrolling Time (307): 100
Synaptics Off (308): 0
Synaptics Guestmouse Off (309): 0
Synaptics Locked Drags (310): 0
Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout (311): 5000
Synaptics Tap Action (312): 2, 3, 0, 0, 1, 3, 2
Synaptics Click Action (313): 1, 1, 1
Synaptics Circular Scrolling (314): 0
Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance (315): 0.100000
Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger (316): 0
Synaptics Circular Pad (317): 0
Synaptics Palm Detection (318): 0
Synaptics Palm Dimensions (319): 10, 99
Synaptics Coasting Speed (320): 0.000000
Synaptics Pressure Motion (321): 14, 79
Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor (322): 1.000000, 1.000000
Synaptics Grab Event Device (323): 1
Synaptics Gestures (324): 1
Synaptics Capabilities (325): 1, 1, 1, 0, 0
Synaptics Pad Resolution (326): 1, 1
Synaptics Area (327): 0, 0, 0, 0
Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold (328): 0

[jtarin]

A comparison between the two files, ~/xmodmap, ~/xinput in the /home/username directory and the /home/new-username directory would probably show something.Your old conf shows the touchpad enabled "1"="on".....Does anything work in your touchpad, at all?

[jtarin]

I would like to hear from the original thread starter before this thread got off topic from mouse to touchpad!

[salinmooch]

I diff'ed the directories and there are to many things different between the two for me to start on. I do not have a ~xmodmap or ~xinput in either directory. . . hmmm... I should add the touchpad works fine, and the keyboard work fine . . . . just when I right or left click its does the equivalent of a alt+left click or alt+right click. Thus instead of clicking on a link in fire fox - it instead allows me to grab the window and move it (as you would if you alt+click). It happens for all windows.


since I kind of hijacked this thread - I'll give a quick summary of my issue to this point:

I found I had a problem where my left clicks on my laptop where performing the equivalent of a alt+lef click. I searched about and came across this thread - the originator stating they had install sugar-emulator and afterwards came across this problem.

I realized that I just installed the same package. So I did an uninstall with purge and deleted the ~/.sugar directory. With a reboot, no luck. With jtarin's xinput suggestions and reboot - still no luck. I noticed a sugar entry in gconf (under /desktop/sugar). To my untrained eye nothing seemed amiss in this directory. I tried gconf-cleaner which removed a bunch of keys, but the problem remained (and the sugar keys remained). However, when I replaced my .gconf folder with that from a freshly added new user it fixed the alt- click issue for me however, with the issue that I have to reconfigure settings on my desktop and some gnome apps.

This brute force fix doesn't really tell me what the problem was though . . . but its a livable solution.





A comparison between the two files, ~/xmodmap, ~/xinput in the /home/username directory and the /home/new-username directory would probably show something.Your old conf shows the touchpad enabled "1"="on".....Does anything work in your touchpad, at all?

[jtarin]

I have to go out for a few hours but will be back to investigate this further unless someone comes up with a solution by then.

[jtarin]

Ok try to do a diff between the good and the bad of the command
xinput list-props 12

[theepdinker]

here:

don@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
cat: /etc/X11/xorg.conf: No such file or directory

don@ubuntu:~$ xinput list | grep 'id='
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech USB Receiver id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech USB Receiver id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Macintosh mouse button emulation id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Dell WMI hotkeys id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]
don@ubuntu:~$

[theepdinker]

And I checked some other user accounts that I had set up. The other accounts still have "normal" mouse behavior, only "don@ubuntu" has the other mouse behavior.

[jtarin]

Enter this command and check your mouse.

xinput set-button-map 10 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7
Doesn't work correctly try:

xinput set-button-map 11 1 2 3 4 5 9 8 6 7
if either work make note of which one, then reboot and check again.

[salinmooch]

Ok try to do a diff between the good and the bad of the command
xinput list-props 12

Thanks again for all your help.

Done. The diff reveals that in the working button case:

Synaptics Off (308): 1

and the nonworking (alt-click mode) case:

Synaptics Off (308): 0


This of course, makes no sense to me. . . as in both cases I'm using the touchpad. I would ask xinput to change this setting just out of curiosity but I do not know how. It seems like the bad setting may be somewhere else.

Now I am working with a new ~/.gconf imported from another user on the system, and I spent about 10 minutes reconfiging my system - so its a dirty but workable solution for me. Now I'm just curious to what go changed.

[jtarin]

Thanks again for all your help.

Done. The diff reveals that in the working button case:

Synaptics Off (308): 1

and the nonworking (alt-click mode) case:

Synaptics Off (308): 0


This of course, makes no sense to me. . . as in both cases I'm using the touchpad. I would ask xinput to change this setting just out of curiosity but I do not know how. It seems like the bad setting may be somewhere else.

Now I am working with a new ~/.gconf imported from another user on the system, and I spent about 10 minutes reconfiging my system - so its a dirty but workable solution for me. Now I'm just curious to what go changed.Run the command
synclient -l

[jtarin]

Ok I found a guide to test and configure touchpad (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1401645)in Ubuntu. Mouse configuration is somewhat different, but neither are difficult.

[vilcans]

I'm the second one hijacking this thread saying "me too"!

The OP's problem is exactly the same as mine:


My mouse clicks are stuck in a strange mode. I now have to hold down Ctrl and/or Shift to make it select like it used to (and I am getting tired of pressing those for every click). If I don't press one of those keys, I just get a hand cursor that can re-position a window, but not select things.

This started when I installed the sugar-emulator-0.88 via the Synaptic Package Manager (Ubuntu 10.04). The Sugar emulator runs in a Zephyr window, and one uses Ctrl-Shift mouse clicks to shift between emulator window and native window. So, I suspect some bug got the mouse stuck in an odd-ball mode.

I tried un-installing the Sugar emulator, but that didn't help.

Anyone know how to get the mouse back to a "normal" mode?

I'll try to describe my problem in detail.

To be clear: There is nothing physically wrong with the mouse. I have tested the "stick" on the keyboard (don't know what's it called, you know the little thing between the g, h and b keys that IBM used to love) and a USB mouse. Both have the same problem.

The problem only appears when I use the mouse. A mouse click is interpreted as alt+mouse click. Middle-mouse click resizes the window (just like alt+middle-mouse would normally). There is nothing wrong with the keyboard. The alt key is not stuck when I'm using only the keyboard. For example alt+f opens the File menu in the terminal. (If it was stuck, pressing just F would open the File menu.)

Logging in as a different user removes the problem. xinput list-props with all device numbers gives the exact same output on both users.

Help would be appreciated! I'm not very fond of the idea of creating a new login.

[jtarin]

You should read the entire thread then if it does not help post under your own thread as it will get answered specifically for your problem. Hijacking a thread is of no value to you if you are looking for an answer and you cannot find it in this thread..

[vilcans]

You should read the entire thread then if it does not help post under your own thread as it will get answered specifically for your problem. Hijacking a thread is of no value to you if you are looking for an answer and you cannot find it in this thread..

Well, because I have the *exact* same problem as the OP, including getting it after installing Sugar, I thought it was a better idea to post in the same thread (which I have of course read). Silly me.

[vilcans]

OK, here's the solution:

Just remove .gconf/apps/metacity/general/%gconf.xml and the problem should go away. It did for me. :-)

I found this by using git bisect with a repo with one commit per file.

[JohnR51]

Did you ever resolve this problem? I just had the same thing happen when installing the Sugar emulator in Linux Mint. Thanks /John

[vilcans]

Yes, read my last post. It fixed the problem for me.

[bluetomgold]

I have the same issue, following Sugar install and uninstall, with either the mouse or the touchpad. I wonder if anyone has actually installed Sugar with 10.04 and NOT had this problem...

I haven't managed to find the file below. None of the other fixes suggested have been reported to work so I'm inclined not to try them.


OK, here's the solution:

Just remove .gconf/apps/metacity/general/%gconf.xml and the problem should go away. It did for me. :-)

I found this by using git bisect with a repo with one commit per file.

I'd be glad to hear from anyone who has found a fix for this!

[vilcans]

Does it work if you log in as a different user?

I don't know why removing that file helped, but it seemed to contains some settings related to the mouse or keyboard.

[bluetomgold]

Creating a new user and logging in as that user has cleared it, yes. Thanks, that's better if not a total fix.

[budderfly]

OK, here's the solution:

Just remove .gconf/apps/metacity/general/%gconf.xml and the problem should go away. It did for me. :-)

I found this by using git bisect with a repo with one commit per file.


I don't know exactly how to do this.

[budderfly]

Actually, I read another thread and the problem is very simple, I think we were all over thinking it.

user: ifland found the simple solution, i'm not going to take credit


I had the same problem and I managed to fix it by going to System -> Preferences -> Windows and selecting "Alt" as the movement key. (To actually click on the window without moving it, I held the Ctrl key and clicked.)

- Orion

[bluetomgold]

Actually, I read another thread and the problem is very simple, I think we were all over thinking it.

user: ifland found the simple solution, i'm not going to take credit

That's it! Thanks!

[hopeididgood]

Just adding another "thanks" here for everyone working through the problem... I also installed Sugar and had exactly the same issue. (I'm so grateful I found this thread!)

[bobprobst]

OK, here's the solution:

Just remove .gconf/apps/metacity/general/%gconf.xml and the problem should go away. It did for me. :-)

I found this by using git bisect with a repo with one commit per file.

This worked for me. Thanks!

Edit: I had also installed Sugar and had this problem. I could click my Ubuntu menus fine but once I was in an application like FF or terminal, I had to ctrl-shift-click to do anything,

[Buurmas]

Actually, I read another thread and the problem is very simple, I think we were all over thinking it.
Thank you! I was sure there had to be a straightforward solution to this strange problem.

[kennedyjch]

Had the same problem. Happened after installing the additional nVidia drivers (recommended) and hence starting up Unity interface.

So following the advice "System -> Preferences -> Windows and selecting "Alt" as the movement key" had fixed it for me too....

But this should have never happened in the first place...

Thanks for the extremely helpful posting and solution.