No Right-Click

Question

Hello All,

I recently acquired a Dell Latitude 2100, an 10.1" netbook running Win 7 HP, 2 GB RAM and a 60 GB HDD. Love the little thing. But over the last 12 hours its lost its ability to right-click. Doing a right-click simply winds up depressing the button, but no context menu appears; it doesn't matter what level I try it at, files, directories, programs, applications, etc. . There are simply no right-click menus / responses.

I've run sfc and it came back completely clean. I've also tried both a wireless and a wired mouse all without success. The left-click button and generalized movement are excellent.

Any suggestions as to cause and cure will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

BearPup

BearPup · Accepted Answer

Hi Justin,

Well the reinstall itself went fine, all of Windows loaded and the right-click function works, so its definitely not a hardware problem. That's the good news, the bad news is that all I have to rely on are suspicions, the primary one being chipset drivers from Windows Update.

Once I have loaded all my programs in (all are verified from the original computer), then I will deal with Windows Update, being sure to stay clear of chipset drivers and the like. As I won't be done until late afternoon / early evening (EDT) I thought I'd let you know the current status.

Again, my thanks for your support and suggestions.

Regards,

BearPup

Justin C · Accepted Answer

BearPup,

Glad to hear the right-click is back after the reinstall. I typically don't take driver updates from Microsoft. Basically, I don't update it unless it's broken for me, you know? I do a lot of the security updates though, manually. Keeps things going smooth :)

Thanks for posting back. I enjoyed working with you. :emotion-21:

Justin C · Answer

Greetings BearPup!

Thanks for posting your question on Dell Community forum.

I just want to confirm. The external wired and wireless mice also do not allow you to right click? If so, I have a few recommendations.

1. Go into safe mode and see if you have the same issue. If you don't have the same issue in safe mode, then do a clear start-up. Like this:

1. Click start
2. Click in the search bnd click 'run'
3. Type in: MSCONFIG
4. Hit the 'enter' key
5. The Configuration Utility appears
6. Click the 'start up' tab
7. Click 'disable all'
8. Click the 'services' tab.
9. Put a check in the box that says 'hide all Microsoft services'
10. Click 'disable all'
11. Click 'apply' ( Give it a second to process )
12. Click 'close'
13. reboot.

2. If you have the same issue in safe mode, try disabling the touch pad altogether then see if the externals work. Maybe the built in right click is stuck engaged and canceling out externals? I'm no expert on how electronics work but I guess it can happen.

If disabling the touch pad allows the externals to right click, you'll need a replacement palmrest at that point.

Palmrest part number: U440N Palmrest Assembly, Aluminum, LAT2100

Reply back with any questions or feedback.

Justin C · Answer

I'm happy to work with you BearPup. Looking forward to your troublshooting results.

BearPup · Answer

Thank you so much for your response. I'm currently installing the latest drivers, including the one for the Touchpad. I'll try your suggestions and get back to you. Again, Thanks. Regards, BearPup

Justin C · Answer

Hi BearPup,

Thanks for the troubleshooting results. They're making think more and more that it's a software issue.

What happens if you select an item and hit SHIFT+F10? Do you get the context menu?

I'm about to leave the office in about 4 minutes but I'll be back in the morning to continue.

BearPup · Answer

Hi Justin,

Many thanks for your help. I first loaded the touchpad driver, set to disable when external mouse is present. The external mouse is recognized, the touchpad becomes disabled, and there is no right-click menu.

Did F12 option and ran the diagnostics, all checked out fine.

Did F8 Safe Mode, no right-click context menu with either the internal or exterior mice.

I was really hoping that disabling the touchpad would do the trick, but....

Any other ideas for me to try?

Regards,

BearPup

Justin C · Answer

Also BearPup, We can try a system restore since the problem started very recently. Maybe a Windows update changed something.

BearPup · Answer

Hi Justin,

Again, my thanks. I tried the F10 command, no right-click menu. And I fear the system restore is the only recourse, as I had almost 400 MB worth of System Updates from Windows when I first logged onto the system.

Having spent 4 hours getting it as I like it, its not a task I relish, but see no other option. Have a good night, and I'll be in touch when I've finished the system restore.

Regards,

BearPup

BearPup · Answer

Morning Justin,

Some final notes from last night. I went to do a system restore and discovered that the 'techs' who refurbished this didn't bother to turn on System Restore Protection in Control Panel. So no restore is possible. And the recovery partition that's on here remains inaccessible to me (the provided directions don't work).

And while the unit doesn't come with a DVD, I have an external one arriving Saturday from Amazon. I'm hoping that after hooking it up, I can change the boot order to launch from there. If so, I have a 32 Bit System DVD (a Digital River product) and I'd start from scratch using that. If it doesn't work, the system will have to get shipped back for repair. Big groan.

If I'm missing something, please let me know, but at this point I think I'm out of other options.

Thanks again.

Regards,

BearPup

BearPup · Answer

Morning Justin,

Well I finally hit the system restore button at the right time, and the system is currently reinstalling Win 7. Once that is complete I'll test the system out before loading the backlog of Windows Update files. However this time I will exclude all hardware updates and see if that does the trick.

I'll keep you posted.

Regards,

BearPup

Justin C · Answer

Morning BearPup,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having to reinstall Windows for this. There was probably some registry entry that needed a value changed from like 0 to 1. However, that's a little past my scope. I don't know the registry very well. People can work magic with that if they know it well.

Looking forward to your reinstall results.

BearPup · Answer

Hi Justin,

Couldn't help but respond. Its really a matter of brains versus feelings. I used to volunteer support at Microsoft and I would tell people over-and-again 'if it ain't broke....', especially when it came to messing with the OS, Registry, or System settings.

Then this little netbook shows up, and it "needs" all these updates, and I've never had a problem downloading drivers (and everything else) from Microsoft, and no matter what advice I give.....Chuckle. Should have followed my own advice! So its looking good - every program but one is loaded and the right-click is still fully operational.

Again, my thanks to you.

Regards,

BearPup

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No Right-Click

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