but I do know you have done very well refining your SSCCE
I have to disagree. The OP has not posted a SSCCE and the code posted will not help solve the problem.
While doing the SSCCE I removed everything and it worked.
That is the point of a SSCCE. To simplify the code and make it easier to debug and understand the concept.
So why would removed the lines of code below cause the issue?
No idea. Did you try just adding an empty panel? Is it the components on those panels that cause problems.
You do know that by default a JTable does not have any row selected? The user must click on the row, unless your code specifically sets the selected index.
Until a proper SSCCE is posted I doubt the question can be answered.