Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

mgushee · 2009-03-16 04:56:03

Hello, folks--

I am having a mouse problem that is driving me up the wall. The mouse in question is an optical IM/PS2 mouse--it is a cheap no-name product, but has worked fine for 2 or 3 years. The trouble started maybe six weeks ago when I did a full upgrade. The most important change that I know of in that upgrade was the introduction of HAL, so I strongly suspect that the cause of the problem is related to my HAL configuration, or perhaps a conflict between that and my X config. But anyway, the symptoms I've been seeing include (but are not limited to):

* Firefox: a single click selects an entire paragraph

* Thunderbird: a single click in the message list opens the message in a new window

* Xfwm: a single click on the "windowshade" button collapses the window, then expands it again
(or vice versa, depending on the initial state)

* Xfwm: when dragging a window quickly, the mouse "loses its grip"--i.e. the window stops moving even
though I am still moving the mouse

None of these things happens every time, but they all happen often. The problems seem most severe in Firefox, but given that similar things happen elsewhere, I would imagine that's due to Firefox's complex event handling exposing a pervasive problem, rather than any kind of application-specific issue.

With the possible exception of the window-dragging issue, all the above symptoms are consistent with a problem I have seen reported elsewhere, that single clicks are being read as double clicks. However, the only clearly applicable solution I've seen for that issue is to remove all mouse configuration from Xorg.conf, leaving it up to HAL. I tried that and it didn't seem to change anything. However, at the same time I purged the mouse from Xorg.conf, I created an FDI file for the mouse in /etc/hal/fdi/policy. I wonder now if that was necessary--there was no FDI for the mouse before, but perhaps there doesn't really need to be one if you aren't applying any special settings? Dunno, I don't understand much about HAL yet.

I have tried a couple of other things: first, I set the double click speed to the minimum using the Xfce Mouse Settings applet (BTW, I suppose this applet is a front-end to some shell command or config file, but what?). That seems to help, but only a little. Second, if I use the mouse in an unnaturally precise manner (e.g., when single-clicking, I click as quickly as possible and lift my finger all the way off the button), the problems mostly, but not entirely, disappear.

Any suggestions?

bernarcher · 2009-03-18 00:03:25

Sounds like faulty hardware. I experienced this on mouse/keyboard several times in 30 years practice. Switch contacts worn out or the like.
Did you try another mouse by chance?

mgushee · 2009-03-18 02:27:44

bernarcher wrote:

Sounds like faulty hardware.
....
Did you try another mouse by chance?

Well, no, and I suppose to be thorough I should try that. But I am quite sure that the problem appeared suddenly, and exactly at the time of the upgrade I mentioned.

bernarcher · 2009-03-18 11:18:34

mgushee wrote:

bernarcher wrote:
Sounds like faulty hardware.
....
Did you try another mouse by chance?
Well, no, and I suppose to be thorough I should try that. But I am quite sure that the problem appeared suddenly, and exactly at the time of the upgrade I mentioned.

Well, it could be that your fdi modification tries to catch the mouse events twice in a row. Perhaps you should post the file.

Besides: There is are no mouse specific fdi settings in my system. I currently have no idea where the mouse behaviour was defined besides my still old xorg.conf. (I did only activate Option "AutoAddDevices".)

whompus · 2009-03-19 16:52:38

I've been playing around with xorg.conf and had this exact same problem, I commented out the mouse from ServerLayout and the mouse InputDevice section and the mouse is working correctly again.

mgushee · 2009-05-12 06:47:55

Wow. Meant to follow up long ago, but here it is 2 months later. Anyway:

Um, well, actually I bought a new mouse and that seems to have solved the problem. I still don't think I imagined it all, though ... maybe something about the new HAL setup exacerbated a pre-existing problem that I wasn't fully aware of yet? Anyway, thanks for the responses.

benoror · 2010-01-13 07:35:13

Hi people. I'have this problem too with my Synaptics Touchpad. I've installed gsynaptics tool (Preferences->Touchpad) and selected "Tapping Time" to the shortest value with no effect apparently, it is still too damn sensitive.

Also, my xorg.conf is completely commented out! So I think everything is HAL-detected. Any ideas ?

jac · 2010-01-13 09:21:41

Both of the threads you posted in are really old. You should open a new thread, with your problem in it. You should link to both of these threads if you think it is relavent. Also, please don't cross post.

About the tapping speed, I'm afraid I have no idea. It sounds to me that "Tapping Time" should be set to max, but that's just the way I would assume it works.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-16 04:56:03

Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#2 2009-03-18 00:03:25

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#3 2009-03-18 02:27:44

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#4 2009-03-18 11:18:34

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#5 2009-03-19 16:52:38

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#6 2009-05-12 06:47:55

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#7 2010-01-13 07:35:13

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

#8 2010-01-13 09:21:41

Re: Uncontrollable mouse button events (single clicks are doubled?)

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