Comment 29 for bug 1181666

I appear to have the inverse of this bug: when a window is active, I can click in that window but I cannot use the mouse to change apps or to select sub-windows of an app (such as file dialogs, I must use Ctrl-Alt-Tab) The mouse is completely useless on the gnome-shell panel or on the Activities display, the cursor tracks, but no clicks.

Within an app some actions such as using a menu-bar or the scroll wheel can sometimes cause the mouse to cease all function, it's bluetooth so I switch it off and on and it works within that window again. If I want to change apps (or windows within an app) I use Alt-Tab and typically the mouse will then work in that window, but may fail again shortly after and need another restart. If I am in a File window and select a file that opens an app (eg VLC on a video) the mouse will be active in the newly opened app, and when that app closes, mouse control returns to the File window.

This is using Ubuntu 17.04 upgraded from 16.04 but on an older machine that has been incrementally upgraded since about Ubuntu 12.04, both Unity and Gnome-Classic ran fine in 16.04

I'm using the VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220] (rev a2)
I was using the NVidea 304 driver, switched to the 340 and the problem remains.