I have a very strange problem.
I own a Lenovo ThinkPad E530c. At one point in its life, the left click on the touchpad simply decided to stop working. That keyboard-bound left-click button also did not work. Right click worked fine.
As I don't use my laptop very often (and when I do, I use a mouse, where both clicks were working fine), I practically forgot about the problem thinking it was probably a driver issue and I was too lazy at the time to figure it out.
Fast forward to today. I boot up my laptop and remember that it didn't work. I tried reinstalling the drivers (nearly fresh copy of W7, by the way), that did not help. I figured windows must have messed something up, so I booted an Ubuntu Live CD. Sure enough, both clicks worked fine.
I then installed Ubuntu, and lo and behold, after installation, neither touchpad-click, nor the keyboard-button click for left clicking did not work (on Ubuntu). And get this… The left click did not work on my USB mouse either.
Summa summarum, there is no way for me to left click on Ubuntu, and I can only left click with my mouse on Windows 7.
What the hell could be going on? I plan on installing Arch tomorrow to see if that will help it, but this is a very odd problem I believe.
Best Answer
I had the same problem. I've had my computer now for several years and all of a sudden the left mouse button and the ability to tap on the touch pad stopped.
My laptop is out of warranty and before buying a new one, i wanted to see if I could fix this.
I read hundreds of forums and they all said you are screwed. That you have to send it back. None actually posted a solution.
I took the entire computer apart and finally found the problem and here's the problem and the solution:
There are two ribbons that connect to your left mouse button and the tapping ability of the touchpad. The ribbons aren't that long, and with continued handling of the laptop and picking it up by the corner, you cause the laptop to flex, which in turn pulls on the two ribbons. Eventually the two ribbons will pop out of place.
As a result, the mouse pad can still move around, and the right moust button will still work, but nothing else.
Here's the solution:
Take off the cover to the hard drive and memory.
Depending on your computer, under one of the covers you will find the screw that holds the keyboard in. It is usually labeled with a picture of the keyboard.
Unscrew that screw and then open your laptop.
Take a small flat edge, guitar pick, or a credit card and pry the top of your keyboard up to release it from your laptop. The bottom of the keyboard will come unhooked.
There is a ribbon under your keyboard, go ahead and lift the black tab to pull the ribbon out and put the keyboard to the side. This will give you plenty of room for the repair needed.
Towards the bottom you will see two ribbons. These ribbons are the ones that have become disconnected.
Pull the black tab up on both of the ribbon slots, and then insert the ribbons all the way and then push the black tabs back down.
Reinstall the keyboard ribbon in the same way.
Push the keyboard back into position and then flip the computer over and put the screw back in that holds the keyboard.
Screw the covers back on the memory and hard drive and you are done.
Everything works now perfectly.