Aspire 5100 BL51 - Slow, columns of dead pixels, general unhappiness

***SORRY the computer is an Aspire 5100-3357, disregard the model in the title***
Hey guys. I am pretty much sure my mobo/cpu is failing, but i thought i'd give you all a chance to figure this out. Sorry for the laziness, but i am pasting the "nicer" sections of what i sent to tech support.

My situation is that im in the caribbean, and i need my laptop and have no replacement. My warranty expires sometime next year (late jan i think), and i've already started a servcie request and they ahve already told me to send it in. Basically i have my 3 weeks of break (dec 15 to jan 7th) to send it in and hope they fix it... I can dream, right?

Quick questions beforehand:
What is their international warranty like? Do you think the "local" (puerto rico is the closest) authorized repair center could fix it?

Here is what i sent tech support:

Computer Information:
Summary

Manufacturer Acer
Product Name Aspire 5100
Operating System Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Chipset ATI RS485MC/RX485 SB460
Processor AMD Turion(tm) 64 Mobile Technology MK-36
System Memory 1 GB
Hard Drive 1 ST9120821AS ATA Device, 111.79 GB
Hard Drive 2 SecureDigital_MMC_Drive, 964.84 MB
CD/DVD Drive 1 MAT****A DVD-RAM UJ-850S ATA Device
Video ATI Radeon Xpress 1100
Audio Realtek High Definition Audio
Ethernet Card 1 Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Wireless LAN Card 1 Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network Adapter
UUID ***erased***
Serial Number ***erased***

Problem:

Excessive Deferred Procedure Calls (referred to as DPC from now on) and hardware interrupts whenever I try to Skype call with video, or watch full screen flash videos, or chat on aim with video, etc. Basically anything with streaming audio and video slows down my computer. Even anything remotely intensive will eventually stall the system such as opening 100 mb powepoint presentations for my medical classes, watching videos for an extended period, etc.

Computer was working fine 3 weeks ago (bought in Feb 07). No hardware/driver changes in the past couple weeks either.

The computer basically screeches to a halt and I cant click anywhere, cant ctrl-alt-delete. Everything just gets delayed by an excessive amount and i usually have to do a hard shutdown.

In 'Process Explorer' the DPCs are taking up ~40% of cpu usage, cpu usage overall is 100%. Even sometimes when nothing is running. Skype video or any browser streaming audio or video content takes up only 30% of CPU, but overall CPU usage is 100%.

I downloaded 'DPC Latency Checker' - Latency is constantly over 10,000micro seconds even when NOT running any intensive programs. This is well beyond any acceptable range. During intensive programs I will constantly get 80,000+ microsecond latency, computer will freeze and i have to strugle to reboot.

I ran MemTest86 to check for RAM errors overnight - no errors

I ran chkdisk to check for Hard Drive errors- no severe errors, repaired all and no change.

SpeedFan gives me a crazy 72 deg CELCIUS reading for the CPU, so i dont think the mobo supports a proper temp readout, because the cpu doesnt feel that hot AND the fan doesnt kick into high gear until "78" deg Celcius. I keep the computer running in a room that is 21 deg Celcius, on a flat, solid surface with free flowing air into and out of the cpu fan.

Things I've done:
Checked hard drive controller to make sure UDMA is enabled, it is (NOT running in PIO mode)

Disabled and enabled EVERY device and watched to see if the latency came back to normal in DPC latency check
- still full latency

Checked for viruses, malware, spyware, etc. None were reported and I’ve never had any in the past.

I rolled back every driver update to original factory state - no change

FULL SYSTEM RESTORE USING RECOVERY PARTITION (Disk2Disk)
- Now i have a fresh windows install, as it was from the factory with the same settings as before the latency issues. However i still have the latency issues.

CLEARLY this is not a software/driver/program issue.

Reverted back to all older bios's after updating to the latest (3.05) - no change

Reset physical memory chips, cleaned out the processor fan, checked the headsink - nothing was disconnected or even slightly dirty. I take very good care of my electronics.

Also, on a completely different note: my LCD screen is failing as I have a 3 pixel wide vertical column of stuck "purple" pixels on the left side of the screen. When i move the screen to close it, it flashes between purple and red. This seems to me that the Red and Blue pixels are stuck. My guess is the monitor cable is deteriorating or the GFX card is failing. Slowly more and more columns of pixels are getting stuck, as it started with just one column and in two weeks its up to three.

 

Thanks in advance guys, sorry about the epic post.

 

Speedfan won't give you an accurate CPU reading, try Core Temp:

http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/CoreTemp/

I'll leave others to work on the rest.

Hummm...one more thing. That drive is an SATA drive. Mine (newer model of yours) was detected as ATA until today when Vista update changed it to a scsi device. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but you might try Windows update and see if it makes a difference with your drive.

 

You seem to know what you are doing in Windows , however it still might be a software problem .

I guess you install some more apps after the revert ? or maybe there are 2 partitions ?

The vertical lines problem looks like a failing LCD panel , could only get worse .

So there is no way around sending it anyway and have Acer check it up .