Hardware issue.. Window panes losing focus in windows?

I have a Sony laptop sz320p and it has a strange problem. The only way i can describe it is that the mouse will click on a link to a web page, but then the next page that loads the mouse will not be able to click on either the page or the buttons. the only work around I've found is to press the start menu key, which opens the start menu and then somehow the links are back in focus and can be clicked. but only once. the computer does not start up like this, only after about half an hour does it really get bad, and then i have to restart again. I know that this model is notorious for mouse problems, due to some capacitance from the aluminum handrest to the touchpad. When that happens, the mouse flies all over the place, clicking windows in all corners. I find myself grounding the touchpad somehow by tapping just the touchpad then the handrest. Im still unsure why that specific button remedies the problem though.. any insights?

Do you have the same problem if you use a USB mouse rather than the touch pad?

yes. I've also notice that i can make the problem happen if i have two tabs open in firefox. I can continually click the tabs, but the links will be inactive, then if i press my start menu and click in a box, the mouse shows pointer change over the stuff on the page but cant click on tabs until i press start menu again.

When did this start happening? You could try doing a System Restore to a date prior to that, see if it fixes the problem.

Also, when you are in the condition you describe, what happens if you press Ctrl+Esc or Alt+Tab?

while the start menu is open, either by pressing ctrl escape or the startmenu button, the mouse activates when moved over buttons (such as tabs, parts of the mozilla program) and the links, but as soon as i click something, it becomes active and the other disables. if click onto the webpage portion, the links stay active until i go to a new site. if i change tabs the links disabled on all pages until i press startmenu or open it. i can also click the start menu button to acheive this effect,

Is this a FireFox only problem or does it also occur if you use IE? If it's FF, try starting FF in it's Safe Mode: Start / Programs / Mozilla Firefox / Firefox (Safe Mode) See it it still happens.