Coincidence??

I'm running a T43 on Vista Ultimate and I'm have the EXACT same issues. I usually have to apply about a pound of pressure directly on the space next to my mousepad to the right, just over the HD to stimulate activity on my comp.  This is becoming very annoying.  So far I've only removed the HD and cleaned it and jammed it back in there assuming that the connections were just loose.  The comp is working alot better now, but I just had a freeze up a few mins ago--but so far it's running like 95% better.  I don't think this is a permanent fix though.