Mouse won't work in top bar or at login screen on Lenovo W510 laptop after debian jessie to stretch upgrade. It also won't work on side menu. I am using gnome but I created a new user and logged in using xfce and it had the same issue. The mouse works fine inside an application. To open an application I have to hit the windows key, type the name of the application and then hit enter. If I open a terminal session inside of gnome I can't maximize by double clicking the top bar. I also can't move the window by dragging the top bar with the mouse. I have to use alt+space bar and then select maximize via the keyboard.

Any help/advice/tips much appreciated. I Googled the heck out of this and I can't seem to find a solution.

The mouse cursor is there, however left or right clicks do not work? Have you tried left, right, center mouse clicks? Perhaps in your window manager, left and right are swapped, or even if the mouse doesn't have a center wheel (plus click) perhaps the window manager thinks it does and also considers this to be the left button. I'd open the desktop configuration for the mouse and see what it says it thinks the mouse is, as well as the settings.

Actually not a lot of confidence even with my guess since I think the behavior of the mouse in an application may similarly be governed by the desktop mouse settings.

Not sure where you go from there except to try a totally different mouse.

And I'm assuming you've already rebooted a few times.

Thanks for the suggestions. The laptop dual boots with Windows and there is no problem in Windows so I do not think it is hardware related. Also strange as you say that it works fine within an application's window. Nothing works outside the application ie right or left click etc. I can't change wifi settings with the mouse or logout as they are on the top bar. It seems like something to do with the upgrade to Debian Stretch.

Are you talking about a mouse or a touchpad?

I have the same problem for both. Actually the usb mouse I have plugged in, the built in touch pad and the red point stick in the middle of the keyboard all have the same issue.

It sounds like a bug. You should report it.

I may end up doing that. I was wrong in an earlier post, Xfce does not have the glitch. I did "apt install gmrun" to get a keyboard launcher in Xfce so at least I have a very usable laptop. The problem may be unique to my install. If I get a chance, I may to a fresh install to see if it works out the same. It happens with a fresh/test Gnome user also and not just with my existing user account. Thanks to everyone for the help!

I know my mouse pointer dispersers on me sometimes and I get confused to where it is at, so i click it to get it back.

In this case, I can clearly see where the pointer is but you can't select or do anything at the initial login screen, at the side or top menus in Gnome. Once you open an application with the keyboard, then the mouse works normally but only inside the application. If you hit alt+tab to switch between applications, the mouse stops working again.

ok some kind of focus - awareness problem. just by chance did one unplug the mouse then plug it back it to see if that has any effect on the desktop seeing the mouse or gaining a connection to it so that it works?

Others are having the same problem. I can't find a report on it.

I think it was related to the nvidia driver. This seems to have solved the problem:

apt-get purge nvidia-*
apt install nvidia-legacy-340xx-driver

Thanks to all.