Stability Advice

[Hemsky]

I just built my new PC.
However, I am having some stability issues when it comes to windows. I am not sure if it is a hardware issue (shouldn't be) or what.
For instance, upon a hard reboot, windows will hang with the HD Activity light on at the initial loading screen for about 2 minutes before loading up.
But a soft reboot and it goes from post to windows in about 15 seconds.
Normally I'm a fan about speed, but if its skipping vital tasks I would like it resolved. I do have a fairly fast system and RAM.

Any resources on stability tweaks/options that will not reduce performance too much?

 

[Imyourzero]

Are you getting any crashes during Windows? The system hanging after a cold boot doesn't necessarily indicate a stability problem, but it does sound like an issue of some sort..

Complete system specs would be helpful

 

[Hemsky]

You most definitely can.

Mobo: eVGA 680i SLI
RAM: Corsair Dominator PC-6400 DDR2-800 @ 2.1 V, 5-5-5-12
Video: Dual 7900gt in SLI
CPU: E6600 C2D @ 2.4, stock cooler
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 200gb SATA
Sound: SB Audigy 2
Windows XP Pro

Sometimes it will run fine for a while, sometimes it will just lock up.
I just need a push in the right direction in terms of tweaking for stability. I'm not sure what exactly people do, but I have a friend whose sole mission was to stabilize windows and succeeded. I see most people on here with over 30 days up time and I'm thinking "How?". Especially with the reliance on developers programming on certain games.
Anyway, any pointers?