This started happening a few months ago, I would be minding my own Ubuntu business and then suddenly I can't left click.

After much digging and stupid AI querying, I added something to disabled power management to my boot sequence. That seems to minimize the problems but I still get the problem every 5 minutes or so.

To temporarily fix the problem I Ctrl-alt F3 then F2 to come back to. GNOME.

I tried with a mint usb and I got the same problem. I thought it was then maybe a mouse problem but the pointer does the same no matter what mouse I use and every mouse I tested worked fine on another Ubuntu of the same release. So I think maybe it is some sort of hardware and driver combination and to power management.

I see lots of posts of past years but nothing more recently, but no real solutions or explanations for what might be happening.

Okay looks like a start up script will be the thing to do next.

You've attempted various USB ports?

And/or going through a powered USB hub.

Does it happen with Bluetooth too?

Yes. It will work each time I plug it on a different port until a few minutes later.

Have not tried BT.

Its both the front and back of the computer.

Could be the USB controller. I've had pretty terrible USB problems with certain AMD systems. Typically only with high-bandwidth applications, but I know some people have had problems even with peripherals like mice.

Its a weird problem. But I think it's not just the mouse. It could be other stuff USB. You could be right. I will check with Windows 10 (garbage on a second boot drive)

Your problem is probably an ACPI setting, if that helps you look up an explanation. Try putting usbcore.autosuspend=-1 in the kernel options on your bootloader. If that works, that's definitely the problem, so then either you're good without it or if you still want autosuspend for everything else (good for battery life on a laptop) you should look into a more fine grain approach.

I did this. It does work but when I restart I get the darn problem again.

Also look in your bios.

Barring that, yeah checking a different OS is another good step.

How about a command that runs at every startup then? Some call it autostart and it could be any script you make.
Not the solution but an effective workaround.

In order to make the kernel option persist, you will have to add the option to your bootloader config. Ubuntu probably uses grub, but in any case, I never can remember how to configure any of the bootloaders. Someone here can probably help out (or it'll be a quick search away, I'm sure).

Google " add kernel parameter". Likely Grub in your case.

Although this boot parameter is merely a workaround. I've had some issues with the flat metallic Kinston thumbdrives getting filesystem corruption, because they overheat and quickly dis/reconnect even with working powersaving. Not that this must happen to you, but all i'm saying is that you still better find the root cause or get another mouse.

Not the same distro, but on my system, the relevant file is located at /etc/default/grub. Find the line that says GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX, uncomment it if necessary, and add your kernel parameter to it (mine has GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="acpi_enforce_resources=lax", for historical reasons). Then run grub-mkconfig with appropriate arguments to regenerate your grub configuration.

So I created a service and a timer. the service is supposed to kill the mouse:
mouse-refresh.service
[Unit]
Description=Refresh Logitech mouse event2

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'udevadm trigger --sysname-match=event2 --action=change'

the timer trigers it every 5 minutes

[Unit]
Description=Refresh mouse every 5 minutes on desktop
Requires=graphical-session.target

[Timer]
OnUnitActiveSec=5m
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical-session.target

but then I realized that it doesn't work.
sudo udevadm trigger --sysname-match=event2 --action=change doesn't do it but
sudo udevadm trigger seems to work. however I have stuff on the USB system that I don't want to be resetting every 5 minutes.

I also added the thing to the grub startup:
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash threadirqs usbcore.autosuspend=-1"

it doesn't seem to do the job. only ctrl-alt F3 then ctrl-alt F2 does it. frustrated but continuing with
sudo udevadm trigger for now