While PJ2 sleeps, may I inject yet another call on his behalf for some sanity on this thread?
We need more reliable info on the supposed 'ACARS' messages and MEL items for starters. Regarding 'catstrophic event' theorists, the info on the 'ACARS' messages we have indicates a slow but steady degredation of the systems over some 14 minutes (at least) with ACARS system power for all of that time.
I find it surpising that there has been no mention here of 123 (or even 121) chat regarding the ride and weather cells which I would have expected (and made myself) on that route. Do none of our posters have any info on actual route conditions at the time? Did any 'similar' traffic make significant route deviations?