MacBook – How to determine where mouse input is coming from? Is there a way to log click events? No other mice are connected

bluetoothmacbook promagic-trackpadmousewifi

I am experiencing the strangest behavior. My computer is clearly receiving mouse clicks that I'm not doing, as though they're coming from another mouse, but the cursor never moves on it's own, which I'd expect if another mouse were connected to my computer. I have a MacBook Pro with a Bluetooth Trackpad. For awhile, I thought the trackpad was just uber sensitive, because the clicks would often happen while my finger was resting on it (lightly). But, it's clearly happening when my hands are completely away from the trackpad, keyboard, etc. Maybe my trackpad is just going crazy?

And it's not just single clicks. At times, text on my screen will highlight like a double click. I've also had right-click menus come up while I'm not touching my mouse.

Steps taken:

  • I've triple checked that no other devices are connected through Bluetooth.
  • I removed my mouse and keyboard (and re-paired), hoping it would clear the problem.
  • Per this similar problem with Macs connecting, I turned off bluetooth sharing, and internet sharing was already disabled. No dice.

Ideas/questions:

  • Is there a way to log click events so I can see if it's coming from my trackpad, or another source? I've found several mouse "recorders", but I don't see any that provide a log of where the clicks are coming from.
  • Is it even possible to receive click events from another mouse without receiving movement events?

I'm baffled. I'm on 10.11.1.

Best Answer

This might be a case of defective trackpad. I had a very similar problem where the trackpad registered constant mouse click. You can quickly test that by connecting an external mouse, then go System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Checkmark "Ignore built-in trackpad...".

If the problem is with the built-in trackpad, the odd behaviour will stop at this point as long as external mouse is connected.