Touchpad & mouse left-click intermittent malfunction

[idc]

Hi,
If there is a better place for this query, I'd be happy for a moderator to move it. I shall be very grateful if anyone can suggest what I should try next.

I installed Mint Debian Gnome 32 bit on my Acer Aspire One 150 ZG5 about six months ago and it has performed fine for that period, being updated to update pack 3. But in the last fortnight (I do not remember changing any settings) the trackpad and usb mouse have begun to malfunction after some minutes of turning on and logging in, and sometimes immediately. The left-click button ceases to work after a variable length of time, rendering the system almost unusable. Right-click still works, and middle-click (on the attached USB mouse), and I can two-finger scroll up and down. I have dismantled the machine and trackpad, reseated the cable, the fault remains. I have used synaptic to reinstall xorg-input-trackpad, the fault remains. I've googled extensively, (but possibly not terribly effectively), and I've discovered some others complaining of similar problems as far back as 2009, but I haven't found a solution. (As I say, I may not be the world's best googler, as I tend to find myself drowning in irrelevant entries rather than finding the pinpoint relevant one which may be out there somewhere.)

Running slitaz I find the same fault on the touchpad, which might point to a hardware fault if it wasn't that I have a usb mouse which works plugged into other working machines and also *works* in this case. Why then does it *not* work using Mint Debian? Also the fact that left-click sometimes works for some minutes after first switching the machine on suggests it is not a simple hardware failure.

I've also tried an old live cd 'Kuki linux 2.8', which exhibits the same problem on both touchpad and mouse.
I shall be very grateful for any suggestions.
All the best,
Ian

[idc]

I've just downloaded the latest Mint 12 and running as a live cd the problem remains: the left-click buttons on both trackpad and USB mouse fail to operate. But when plugged into my windows box the usb mouse works perfectly, so I feel it must be a software problem of some sort. I would welcome any advice anyone can give.
Thanks in advance.
Ian

[idc]

It must be something to do with Xorg, mustn't it? But I'm having trouble finding where mint keeps the relevant xorg settings. How can I see how my mouse and touchpad are setup? There doesn't seem to be an /etc/X11/xorg.conf anymore. Nor do I have an /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/synaptics.conf. So where should I be looking for the settings?
Thanks.
Ian

[idc]

I'd be grateful to anyone who can suggest avenues of inquiry.
Thanks.
Ian

[idc]

I eventually decided that it must be a faulty hardware left click button on the trackpad. If I disable the trackpad, I can then use an external usb mouse, which is what I'm doing. Presumably when not disabled the faulty left click button on the trackpad behaves as if permanently clicked and overrides the usb mouse's left click button. It is a shame not to be able to use the trackpad anymore, but I can at least now continue to use the machine.
Thanks,
Ian