Right SHIFT key - barely working

System: Vostro 1700

OS: Vista Business

Problem:

Been using my laptop fine for about 5 months without any problem... then this comes along today.

Pressing the Right SHIFT + another key to get the desired result (capitalised key or say another character such as *) barely works. In order for it to work I have to press it, and BASH the key or spam the desired key...

On the onscreen keyboard... pressing left shift or the right shift automatically shows that its being pressed properly... which makes me think that its working (although someone mentioned when they press theirs it presses the CTRL as well)

Tried it in Safe Mode and it did the exact same thing... so rules out a driver conflict or anything.

The only way I managed to fix it (temporarily for about 4minutes) was to turn the laptop off for a few hours and then try again... (heat?)

Offtopic: As I write this, text keeps typing in random places like my touchpad is enabled and being accidently touched (when its disabled)

Thanks for help... My Dell laptop is really starting to get on my nerves as... there are CONSTANT problems with music playback without any headphones plugged in, this problem, and my touchpad works terribly compared to my friends laptop >:(

AFTER DOING SOME TESTING with software. Pressing either Right CTRL or Right SHIFT seems to press them both at the same time on either one :/ how can I fix this?