Windows crapped out on me, or...?

I've officially contacted customer support about the issue, but since the community here is really cool I wanted to see if anybody else has a clue on what's happened to my beautiful computer. Which worked wonderfully for about a week, I might add.

I've said it elsewhere on microsoft forums, so I'll just say look over at the microsoft support forums at http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7repair/thread/06b278d0-2590-4db2-98f7-3ebd962aeca9

The short version for here: I've gone to great lengths to root out a problem with Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium booting up. It only boots in Safe Mode. If I try to boot normally, it will usually freeze at the blue welcome screen... I've dubbed it the blue ring of death.

It's been a long frustrating trip, but the real kicker is it's doing this after I reinstalled windows and thus started on a clean slate. So there aren't miscellaneous drivers or programs crapping up the process. In my book that's "VERY BAD" and I don't know what to do from here.

So any of you enlightened folks have any idea what's goin on?

I would try turning off any overclocks by loading BIOS defaults (not optimal) and re-seating your system memory just in case. Then try to do a fresh install and see if a certain driver or Windows update is causing this. You'll have to pin-point the problem slowly.

I'm sorry about the issue you are having, yet, I assure you that we'll help you resolve it!

i dont know that id invest so much on the HDD wipe before you rule out hardware, if you dont know how to reseat everything and test your ram read over this for help http://digitalstormonline.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=12038 id reset the bios first, if that doesnt help, reseat everything

Originally posted by !ender_ i dont know that id invest so much on the HDD wipe before you rule out hardware, if you dont know how to reseat everything and test your ram read over this for help http://digitalstormonline.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=12038 id reset the bios first, if that doesnt help, reseat everything if that didnt help, post again

Well Mike the Customer Service person made two suggestions, both of which I did tonight

Originally posted by !ender_ first thing im thinking is ram, i had a semi-similar problem that turned out to be a bad stick many years ago. but if you are not comfortable following the guide/videos then definitely just call DSO or have them call you and they will walk you through it!

I'm moderately comfortable dinking around in a computer as long as it's basic and I have done some research. Video is nice.

Would a faulty RAM stick have caused problems earlier on? As I've said, my computer worked wonderfully for a while, with some intense gaming stress tests. For that matter, wouldn't graphics card issues have shown themselves earlier? As I've said before, I'm out of my depth.

Anyway round two is looking similar to what Alex suggested, which is resetting the BIOS and turning off that sexy overclock. Let me tell you, if all this gets resolved, I'm gonna get a step-by-step to get my comp set up like it was when it arrived! Drivers, overclock, etc. Good stuff I don't want to forget to do! More later.

Just posting a quick update, after talking to a tech support person and messing with BIOS awhile, we eventually determined that I had a defective MoBo... BIOS health check showed the north end was running 30-40 degrees Celcius higher (~70 degrees Celcius total) than the rest.