MacBook – Why can’t I left click on the Macbook Pro

clickmacbook promousetrackpad

I have a Macbook Pro (Retina, Late 2012) running OS X El Capitan (10.11.13).

What works:

  • Secondary click with two fingers
  • Feel/sound of trackpad click (no noticeable change in the feel of the trackpad)
  • Three/four-finger swipes/gestures

What doesn’t work:

  • Primary (i.e. left) click
  • One finger tapping to click

What I’ve tried:

  • Toggling System Preferences Trackpad settings
  • Rebooting
  • Toggling Bluetooth even though it’s normally off and I don’t own a bluetooth mouse (Can't click with trackpad or mouse (OS X 10.9, MacBook Pro))
  • Using a USB mechanical mouse (right click worked, left click didn’t)
  • Switching the Primary mouse button with the USB mechanical mouse connected (Secondary click on the left button worked, Primary click on the right button didn’t)
  • Reset SMC and PRAM (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reset-macs-smc-pram/)
  • Apple Hardware Test (No results found, could not click “Perform extended testing”)
  • Booting in Safe Mode
  • Checking Battery Health ("Condition: Normal” according to System Report; some people have had trouble with their battery bulging)
  • Laying my Macbook Pro on its side and tapping underneath the trackpad area (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3097419?start=15&tstart=0)

I’m confused.

I’ve used the Accessibility Options Shortcut (Fn-⌘-⌥-F5) to turn on mouse keys, which I’ve been using for the past week. As fun as it is to toggle mouse keys on and off, I’d really like to get the clicking working. Please help. I will be happy if this has a stupid easy answer.

Best Answer

I have experienced this before. Your trackpad is faulty and is probably stuck in the "clicked position".

First thing: Try disabling the trackpad. In terminal, issue the following command:

defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.ignoreTrackpadIfMousePresent 1

You may need to reboot.

If the problem goes away while using your USB mouse, then the issue is your trackpad.

If you have Apple Care, you should take it in for service.

If you are comfortable doing the repair yourself, it is a fairly inexpensive part to swap out. Amazon has them for under $35. It will require removing the battery to gain access to the track pad.

ifixit.com has excellent guides on how to do this.

In the meantime until you get it fixed, you should use a regular mouse or an external trackpad.

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