HELP! Laptop just freezes - even after clean XP install

I have an Acer Aspire 1690i laptop. It has worked flawlessly for the past couple of years but today it froze whilst on the desktop screen. I turned it off and restarted it but once on the Desktop it froze again (mouse wouldn't move, no response from the keyboard). I then tried to boot in safe mode but it just froze on the first safe mode load screen (the one with the screen full of text). I then tried another normal restart and it froze whilst checking the hard disk for errors. Then, (sorry, I know I'm going on) I took the hard drive out, bought an external enclosure and tested the hard drive. The drive worked OK and I backed up my important files onto my Desktop PC. I then did a clean install of windows using the recovery CDs. Once I had answered the introductory questions and it had gone onto the Desktop screen it froze again. I tried a restart but again it just freezes as soon as the Desktop appears - there isn't even any hard drive activity. I can start in safe mode but have no use of the mousepad nor external USB mice.

Anybody know what the problem may be? Is it likely to be a hardware problem? If so I think I still have a few months warranty left.

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

probably the display driver graphics card died.

 

but wouldn't the hard drive stiill be active if it was the graphics card?