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Brand new MacBook Pro- Touchpad won't click!

J

jwinter228

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Any help on this issue? It's brand new as of this morning - the mouse moves but I can't click on anything. I tried resetting the PRAM or whatever that is and I used the tab/space keys to get through the welcome screen. But now, I can't really do anything.

Any ideas??

Thanks in advance!
 
by click I mean the only thing I can do with the mouse pointer is move it around the screen. It won't do any other actions or any kind of clicking whatsoever.
 
jwinter228 said:
by click I mean the only thing I can do with the mouse pointer is move it around the screen. It won't do any other actions or any kind of clicking whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Do you get the click sound when you press the bottom part of the trackpad? Are you pressing hard enough? Sorry for the stupid questions :-(. Do you have a USB mouse lying around? If so, enable tap-to-click in the trackpad settings until you get it fixed.
 
same prob

Hey I'm having the same problem with my tracking pad, it will move the pointer thing around the screen fine, but will not click on anything to open etc,
(It dose physically make a 'click' sound but the function doesn't work)

It was working fine last night now its not. one thing that I'll make note of b4 this happened is, I left the computer running and it ran out of battery, then I 'woke' it up but plugging the power in and it done its whole resume where it left off thing...thats when the clicking ability stopped .

Oh and I'm currently using a USB mouse..
 
My 2010 13' MBP just did this, it was almost, like the control key was locked down, as all of the F key commands like brightness and dashboard worked without holding both down.

I have a wacom, hooked up, and I was working on one with a broken wire, and after unplugging it I couldn't click on anything using either the wacom or tracpad.
 
I had the same thing happen to me last night. I got the Macbook at the end of March.
The computer was running fine, until the trackpad stopped clicking. Like the previous posters I can move the curser freely but I cannot click.
 
Trackpad doesn't work either!!!!

I can do a physical click on the trackpad but it does not register anything. What could the problem be? My Macbook Pro is not even a year old. Everything else works fine except the clicking. Apple reps want me to pay them money to fix it. I ain't having it. Is there some way that we can make this problem known at a more global level. I see that the iPhone 4 gets a new case to solve it's antenna issue. How can I make this issue known because I see that everyone - even other sites - is having this problem.
 
There is a Tap to Click option in the thinkpad settings. If you select this option you will no longer have to push to click, but just lightly tap the thinkpad. This is how i solved the problem, but if you computer is still under warranty then Apple should fix it if you computer show very few signs of physical damage.
 
Bottom of trackpad stopped clicking up and down

jwinter228 said:
Any help on this issue? It's brand new as of this morning - the mouse moves but I can't click on anything. I tried resetting the PRAM or whatever that is and I used the tab/space keys to get through the welcome screen. But now, I can't really do anything.

Any ideas??

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I'm having a similar problem, but with my MacBook Pro (about 2 years old)....the bottom of the trackpad would not go down when I pushed down on it. Before that (when it was working normally) the lower portion of the trackpad would go down slightly when pushed down, make a clicking sound, then come back up. Also, when the trackpad would not press down, the fan was running at full speed the whole time (at least an hour). I zapped the PRAM, repaired permissions, restarted, and the problem still existed (and the fan was still blasting away).

Also, if I moved the cursor around the screen, items would sometimes be selected without me clicking the trackpad or the mouse. Also, sometimes the arrow would change to the insert text symbol, and I would have trouble getting the arrow back.

Finally, I turned off the computer, and the next morning when I turned it on...the bottom of the trackpad was clickable again. It goes up and down and makes the clicking sound as it should. Also, the fan is not running.

I'm just wondering what caused the problem. What would keep the bottom of the pad from going down? A bad microswitch that is for some reason having intermittent problems? Or could this be caused by the computer overheating. I had been playing a video game for quite a while. I'm wondering if that had something to do with it. Anyone ever had this happen to them?
 
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I took my (then brand new) MacBook into the Apple Store when I first got it in December of 09 because I had the same problem. The "genius" said he had never seen the problem and took apart my mac and unscrewed a screw that he claimed to of somehow tightened up. It worked fine for 6 months and then retightened again. I took it back in and they fixed it again, claiming more repairs had happened since that first time.

If you have an Apple Store, just go in there and explain it. It's a fairly quick fix.

Hope that helps 😀
 
To anyone else that runs into this problem: Reboot while holding Option to get into the boot menu. Are you able to click in there? That'll narrow down whether it's software or hardware.
 
My old Unibody Aluminum MacBook had this problem...
After taking it into the genius bar they thought it could be battery swelling or an not properly assembled battery that caused this. They replaced my battery and all was well.
This could be the issue for some, but probably not all the people with this problem.
 
ewells7 said:
There is a Tap to Click option in the thinkpad settings. If you select this option you will no longer have to push to click, but just lightly tap the thinkpad. This is how i solved the problem, but if you computer is still under warranty then Apple should fix it if you computer show very few signs of physical damage.
Click to expand...

Its great if you want left-click but you'll be in a pickle if you need to right-click.

Krusi358 said:
I took my (then brand new) MacBook into the Apple Store when I first got it in December of 09 because I had the same problem. The "genius" said he had never seen the problem and took apart my mac and unscrewed a screw that he claimed to of somehow tightened up. It worked fine for 6 months and then retightened again. I took it back in and they fixed it again, claiming more repairs had happened since that first time.

If you have an Apple Store, just go in there and explain it. It's a fairly quick fix.

Hope that helps 😀
Click to expand...

Yep. Had the click problem, took it in, new trackpad in 5 mins. Quick and easy. 🙂

Also, I've a temporary fix on this thread but I don't recommend it. Best thing to do is to take it in if its still under warranty.
 
I have seen aluminum macbooks and 13/15" macbook pro's that exhibit this problem. There are screws in the trackpad that if screwed in too tight (at factory) will not allow the trackpad to have a tactile click. If they have it in stock the genius bar can have this replaced rather quickly (it's a funny install that they will not do in front of you) but should be done the same day.
 
Same problem, but different solution

I had a similar problem with my MacBook Pro--I could move the cursor around, but I couldn't select anything by clicking. Turned out that the problem was that I had a second bluetooth mouse turned on in the vicinity. Turned that off and everything went back to normal. So perhaps check other bluetooth devises if this problem arises.
 
I'm not having the exact issue, but it's more with the right click aspect of my 13" mbp. When clicking in the bottom right corner, it doesn't always recognize the click. I have to do it two or three times, or sometimes click on the bottom left then bottom right for it to work.
 
I had the same exact problem - took in into genius bar and it was a swollen battery. As I have another laptop, turns out I can use this one without the battery and the trackpad now clicks just fine. You can also get a new battery for ~$100.
 
This is a genuine defect in some design. My MB trackpad also stopped clicking.

Took it in to have trackpad replaced at 9 months which of course fixed the issue.

Problem recurred at 18 months so this time they adjusted that screw under the battery which fixed the problem.

Problem recurred 6 months later and haven't tried a genius bar again yet. Don't have any apple stores where I live. Hopefully by the time I make it to a store they will still adjust it for me.

I've had $400 PC laptops and never had a single problem with their track pds. Apple messed this one up bad. In the meantime, tap to click works, but not as satisfying as getting a click when it's pressed.
 
thekb said:
This is a genuine defect in some design. My MB trackpad also stopped clicking.

Took it in to have trackpad replaced at 9 months which of course fixed the issue.

Problem recurred at 18 months so this time they adjusted that screw under the battery which fixed the problem.

Problem recurred 6 months later and haven't tried a genius bar again yet.
Click to expand...

I had a new trackpad installed by a genius but the problem reoccured weeks later and when I finally got round to revisit a genius, I explained my temporary fix (see link in previous post) and they said they had to replace the top case as there was a manufacturing fault that caused the problem with the trackpad. Since the replacement over 12 months ago, my MBP trackpad has been faultless.
 
bigjobby said:
I had a new trackpad installed by a genius but the problem reoccured weeks later and when I finally got round to revisit a genius, I explained my temporary fix (see link in previous post) and they said they had to replace the top case as there was a manufacturing fault that caused the problem with the trackpad. Since the replacement over 12 months ago, my MBP trackpad has been faultless.
Click to expand...


So is this warranty extended for this defect? What exactly do you mean "replace the top case"?

My MB is 2.5 years old now. But it seems like if they had to replace trackpad once under warranty and then adjust it a second time and now it broke AGAIN that they may cut some slack if this is a known defect. I may call Apple to discuss, but what do you think are my chances?
 
thekb said:
So is this warranty extended for this defect? What exactly do you mean "replace the top case"?

My MB is 2.5 years old now. But it seems like if they had to replace trackpad once under warranty and then adjust it a second time and now it broke AGAIN that they may cut some slack if this is a known defect. I may call Apple to discuss, but what do you think are my chances?
Click to expand...

My unit was covered by AppleCare so there wasn't any charges involved. If you are out of warranty, its still worth giving it a shot contacting Apple as (I guess) you could say the problem is related to the initial problem. If you can prove the problem indeed lies with a defective top-case then even better. Can't really comment too much about cover beyond the warranty period as this is dependent on regional legislations.

The unibody comprises of two halves. Upper half = top-case... that's what the genius called it anyway.

Best of luck.
 
Bingo!! Thank You!!

OMG!! Thank You. That was a nightmare. I had a bluetooth magic mousei that was on in my Dang briefcase!!!!!
___________________

Melange666 said:
I had a similar problem with my MacBook Pro--I could move the cursor around, but I couldn't select anything by clicking. Turned out that the problem was that I had a second bluetooth mouse turned on in the vicinity. Turned that off and everything went back to normal. So perhaps check other bluetooth devises if this problem arises.
Click to expand...
!!
 
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