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Trackpad not registering clicks (nor a USB mouse click) on Macbook Air

I have an old Macbook Air from c.2012 which has worked fine until very recently when the trackpad stopped registering any clicks. Tapping or clicking has no effect any more. The trackpad shows the cursor moving around fine when I use it but I cannot click on anything. I tried plugging in a wired USB mouse and the same thing happened, I can move the cursor but cannot click. Weird. Any ideas on the issue and the fix? Thank you!

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 22, 2020 10:58 AM

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Posted on Jan 22, 2020 8:29 PM

Try an SMC reset and PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for at least three chimes).


Try Safe Mode.


Try Recovery Mode (Command + R) or Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) to see if you can click on the menus or utilities.


4 replies

Jan 25, 2020 11:08 AM in response to raclt77

Option Boot the laptop by holding down the Shift key just after the startup chime so the Apple boot picker menu appears. Can you use the trackpad or mouse to click on the WiFi selector list or click on the boot drive icon to boot the laptop?


There is a chance the battery is swollen and pressing on the Trackpad and preventing it from clicking, or the Trackpad is defective. It is very unusual to have the external mouse not work and would tend to tell me it is a software issue, but the Option Boot test would prove if this is a hardware issue.



Jan 25, 2020 4:06 AM in response to HWTech

We've tried the SMC reset and PRAM reset without success.


Unfortunately Recovery Mode didn't work either and now I can't click on anything or shut down. The cursor moves around fine but no clicks are being recognised (we can hear the clicking of the built in trackpad).


Any other ideas of what might be causing this or how to fix it?

Trackpad not registering clicks (nor a USB mouse click) on Macbook Air

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