Windows 7 - Seemingly shutdown issues.

Put in an ssd for a client; performed a clean install of Windows 7; completed all of his setup needs. Everything seems great.

Shuts down like a rocket - 4-5 seconds.

HOWEVER, everytime he cold boots back up, he's given a warning that Windows did not shut down properly. Not on reboots; just shutdowns. Fortunately, he has an option to boot Windows 7 normally, which he does, and it comes up without issue.

It's a six year old Dell Dimension, which has never had a problem. When he was working with the mechanical hd, no shutdown messages.

Strange. Any ideas?

Did you try to type the word event viewer in search by the start button. Go to adminstrative and then look for problems and codes for the time period involved.

You, also, may want to test with a clean boot
Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

I performed a clean boot after the msconfig manipulations. Shut down, then cold started. Got the same "did not shut down properly"; so, again, no clean entry to desktop. No problems with background programs.
Here's a copy of the cogent error messages in Event Viewer:

Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WMI
Date: Sat 01 14 12 1:00:12 AM
Event ID: 10
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Description:
Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WMI" Guid="{1edeee53-0afe-4609-b846-d8c0b2075b1f}" EventSourceName="WinMgmt" />
Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-EventTracing/Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-EventTracing
Date: Sat 01 14 12 12:58:36 AM
Event ID: 3
Task Category: Session
Level: Error
Keywords: Session
User: SYSTEM
Description:
Session "Microsoft Security Client OOBE" stopped due to the following error: 0xC000000D
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: Sat 01 14 12 12:58:32 AM
Event ID: 41
Task Category: (63)
Level: Critical
Keywords: (2)
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Giga_W7
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

*My editing note: neither of the 3 happened.

<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>
Log Name: System
Source: EventLog
Date: Sat 01 14 12 12:58:45 AM
Event ID: 6008
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Description:
The previous system shutdown at 12:57:16 AM on 1/14/2012 was unexpected.
Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-EventTracing/Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-EventTracing
Date: Sat 01 14 12 12:55:19 AM
Event ID: 3
Task Category: Session
Level: Error
Keywords: Session
User: SYSTEM
Description:
Session "Microsoft Security Client OOBE" stopped due to the following error: 0xC000000D

Try it in safe mode. What are your results?

Started up in Safe Mode then shutdown.
The restart then gives us the same "Windows did not shut down properly"

EVERY cold boot shows the same message, although there doesn't seem to be any problem when he arrives at desktop.

Sounds like hardware. Specificac cause, I cant say.

Well, are we *sure* this is a clean install? I mean, Windows 7, no additional drivers, software, etc? The Kernel-Power event indicates the machine crashed on shutdown (bugcheck, BSOD, whatever you want to call it), which is what is causing the reboot warning. Windows doesn't care between shutdown or reboot (it does the exact same things in either case), but a driver could - you have to test it to be sure.

Richc46 is onto something here too, that if the above (an actual clean install, assuming you are currently doing what I mentioned above only) does not change the behavior, that you probably do have hardware issues. Best to make sure the machine has the latest BIOS (remember, if it's 6 years old, it pre-dates general availability of SSD drives for that type of machine, so it might not play well) too during testing.

One OCZ Vertex Plus right out of the box attached to a Silicon Image raid card.
The v3.55 firmware that the drive has, is the latest. We were considering using two and going raid0 if everything went well. Still may.

It was a glitch-free clean install. The two reboots during the installation went smoothly.

After that, MS Office, Nero, Image Burn, his insurance app, Live Mail, set up the printer, MSEssentials. Normal stuff. No additional hardware.

No later BIOS on his pc. Considered legacy now.

What would be the logistical reasons that an ssd "might not play well?"

Well, that's hard to say, but one has to remember that (at least for OEM machines) they're generally designed for the parts available, outside of the Intel (or AMD) reference design they use. That disk controller and the disks are fine, but what about the PCI or PCI-E slot they're attached to? Is it a supported configuration? Could there be timing issues with something so fast mated to a bus so slow? It's hard to say, but if a stock Windows 7 install + Sil card + SSD (and drivers for those only) also reproduces the issue, it'd definitely be worth your while testing those in another system to see if they work there (if that's possible).

Just because I'm a tinkerer, I tried logging off this machine, then shutting down at the login screen. And guess what?

Upon the next cold boot, there was NO UNSUCCESSFUL SHUTDOWN message!

Go figure that one out. Certainly stirs the pot.