Odd computer issue

[Wildcard]

Just built a new rig for a friend and have been experiencing an oddity. For some reason after rebooting the PC sometimes, windows 7 goes into troubleshooting mode then says it is unable to start. I've reinstalled windows twice now and am thinking this is possibly a hardware issue. I'm going to run some diag tests on the hard drive and ram but I am wondering if anyone else has encountered a similar issue like this before?

All the parts are brand new from newegg and this pc is sporting an asus z77 mobo with a new i7 ivy bridge processor, 8gb ram, and 2tb hitachi drive. Not many other extras as this was going to be a simple build.

Any thoughts?

[eth0s]

Off the cuff, I would say problem is most likely one of the following:  (a) bad mobo; (b) bad ram DIMM; or (c) bad Power Supply.

But you need to know for sure, ho here is my trouble shooting guide for you:

(Before you begin, turn off all overclocks, and reset everything to stock.  This should be obvious, but maybe not.  Also less obvious is to unplug all USB devices, except mouse and keyboard.)

1.  Check BIOS settings, make sure you don't have something turned off/on that you need or don't need (especially check cpu and HDD settings).  I don't know your mobo, but there is some ASUS forum out there that will give you the basic settings (i.e., make sure multi-core is on, etc.).
2.  Check your RAM settings, make sure timings and voltage match your stock settings (you should set these values by hand, do not rely on AUTO, or an XMP profile.)
2.  Update Windows - get all latest updates, and I mean ALL of them (could take a while).
3.  Update mobo drivers.
4.  Check for BIOS update.  You may not need to flash the BIOS to latest version, so check what the update is supposed to fix.  If it says something about Windows compatibility, then you know you need it.  However, I would flash to latest BIOS anyway, but that's how I roll.
5.  Update all the other drivers:  video, audio, and mouse.
6.  MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING 64-bit DRIVERS or 32-bit DRIVERS, whichever is correct.
7.  Now run MEMTEST86+ to check for bad RAM DIMMs (let it run all night, if necessary:  9-10 passes is good.)
8.  Now run a stress test like PRIME95, and/or IntelBurnTestV2.
9.  If you are not failing stress test, then check video card with stress test like FURMARK, or 3dMark11, this will tell you if you are having issue with video card.
10.  Next check your HDD, by downloading Hitachi hard drive tester, I don't remember the name, but Hitachi makes one.
11.  Now you can start to rule out components as the problem:  if you passed MEMTEST86+, then your RAM is OK, if you can run PRIME95 or IntelBurnTestV2, your CPU and RAM are okay, if you can run FURMARK, then your video card is OK.  If your HDD checked out, then HDD is OK.  So you are left with either the mobo is bad, or the Power supply is bad.  I would suspect it would be the Mobo, but it could be PSU, if it is not supplying clean power at startup.

Good luck.  Fixing problems is never fun.  But hopefully it is some minor issue like a bad BIOS Setting.

[Wildcard]

I know and I hate that a simple favor turns into a weekend project. Considering the computer starts fine I'm leaning on ram or hdd but I do have several psu testers so I'll be doing that as well. The the first 6 steps are part of my usual setup process so that's done. I don't overclock either because I don't find a need in it. This PC uses an integrated video card so I'd think those tests are out.

If this ends up being the motherboard I'm going on a temp ASUS ban as I've noticed a slight decline in board quality.

I'll check the bios first to see if I find anything odd in the stock settings.

I normally use a hiren boot cd for diag utilities and will check for hitachi specific tests.

Edit: I'm also going to try a "full" format as I've found this to fix strange, but not exactly similar issues in the past.

Lastly I'm making a damn backup of this pc once everything's installed, upgraded, etc.. I'm not going to do this fresh again if I have to replace with the same hardware.

[eth0s]

Well, I wouldn't ban ASUS from your purchases, even if it turns out to be a bad mobo.  It's true that ASUS ships crap to customers, but they all do it.  I've been building computers for nearly 20 years, and I've gotten defective mobo's from all the big names, including ASUS.  ASUS quality hasn't gone down or up.  Their Quality Control system is non-existent.  IMHO, no mobo company is better than any other, in terms of quality.   The problem lies with the methodology of Chinese manufacturing in general, which uses the customer as an unpaid Quality Control inspector.  They ship everything they make in the factory, because it is cheaper than sorting good parts from bad, and then they let you sort out their crap for them.  Which is why they are always willing to take their crap back in an RMA.  The only company that gave customers a real hassle over RMA's was DFI, but look what happened to them:  DFI is out of the consumer mobo business now.  RMA is great, but the problem obviously is that they usually will not cross-ship a new mobo to you (even with a credit card), which is stupid, and which means that you have to wait 2 weeks without a mobo, and without a working computer.  So it sux.  But that's the world we live in.