Windows 7 x64 often crashing on startup

[Dakana]

Hi people and thanks in advance to anyone who can offer some helpful advice. Well, I have a very annoying problem with a computer that I just rebuilt / upgraded . The computer crashes on startup about 70% of the time. It will either crash during the first Windows loading logo, at the login screen or just after I have logged in. I have to reset the computer 2-3 times before the computer will actually start in many cases though sometimes it starts up first time. When it's actually up and running, I haven't had a single issue since I built the machine a month ago.

Here are the specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB (running the latest 260.99 Nvidia drivers. It is factory over-clocked but I haven't over-clocked it further.
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 64 bit
Other: Audigy 2 sound card, 3 SATA-II hard disks, 1 IDE DVD drive

I thought it might be a driver issue, especially with regards to nVidia but I have tried 3 different versions and no difference.

 

[richc46]

If you have a BSOD, post and we will give you instructions regarding the information that is needed

If it is just a crash. The clean boot may help you diagnose
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

 

[Dakana]

Hi, and thanks for the reply.

There's no BSODs - the system simply stops responding. It's very hard to figure out since the crashes happen ANY time during startup. Either the animated Windows boot logo freezes, the login screen freezes or the computer freezes just after logging in. I'll persevere with the clean boot method for the time being.

 

[richc46]

If clean boot does not work (problem probably not caused by a program) Try safe mode. If it does work it is almost definately a driver.

If neither works may be hardware.
If hardware probably the HD or memory.