Help. Can someone decipher what went wrong here?

I'll add my system to my signature after this post.

For the last day I was running 9x, 200 FSB, 1.650v.

Today I decided to try for my first OC. I ran into some problems.

I did fine with 11x at 200 FSB, 1.650v and auto volts on DRAM. (not messing with ram timings, other than setting t-ras to 11).

I then tried 12x, same settings and was in the midst of typing a post and she rebooted. I went into bios on this reboot and switched multi to 11.5. Saved these, continued with boot to windows, all is well.

Okay, so now I figure I've got an idea of my 'max' multi and decide to try some FSB work.

This is when the problems start.

I restart machine, go into bios, change FSB to 210 and 11x, save out, go into windows. Run Sandra burn in about 10 minutes, all is well. Throwing caution to the wind I restart, change FSB to 225 and change DRAM volts from "auto" to 2.7 volts (first time messing with DRAM volts) while keeping the timing at 2-3-3-3 (stock), save out of bios and this happens:

"Backup CMOS...ok"
NVIDIA boot agent
<numbers and words here>

Client MAC ADDR: 00 01 29 26 F2 of GUID FFFF <more F's here>
DHCP

Disc Boot Failure.

alt-cntrl-del yeilds me nothing. Hold the power button in for 7 seconds to shut off computer. Computer shuts off. Push the power button and get a black screen and my mobo is screaming beeps at me. I do cntr-alt-del, nothing, I hold 'esc' and nothing, I resort to holding powerbutton for 7 seconds and she goes down. Okay, I figure I've got a chance to try my new printout of how to reset the CMOS (most of the printout consists of this page ).

After I get the computer to boot up...

(I'm a little fuzzy on when "boot up" starts and when it officially ends. Also, read a bit of the "cold boot" problems thread and don't know what the difference is between cold boot, warm boot, soft boot, etc)

...I go directly into bios and change back to my old 200 FSB, 1.650, 11x, DRAM 2.7v. I save and exit bios and get the NVIDIA boot agent thing again.

cntrl-alt-del

I change the volts to auto, keep the 200 FSB, change multi to 9x; DRAM 2.7v, save and exit bios. NVIDIA boot agent, disc boot failur, 'please insert system disc' message again.

cntr-alt-del

Go into bios, select the restored defaults, save exit bios. Hello windows.

Restart.

Go back to bios, select 200 FSB, 1.650 volts, 11x; save and exit bios. Hello NVIDIA message, disc boot failure.

Cntr-alt-del

Go into bios, restor defaults; save and exit bios. To windows, restart.

Go back to bios, change FSB to 200, 1.650 v, 9x multi; save exit bios. To windows, then restart.

Go into bios, select 200 FSB, 1.650 v, 11x; save and exit bios.

And here I am now posting.

***
I can't tell you exactly where, but somewhere early on during that mess I tried to save to some "reloaded" bios I had. Didn't work.

If I'm running "stable" at 200 FSB, 1.650, 9x multi and then try something that doesn't work why couldn't I just go right back to these settings and have things work out?

Not knowing much about this OC stuff I feel like the board is telling me, "Hey, you can't just jump to 11x, you gotta go default, 9x, then we'll let you have 11x. It's like it wants me to sneak up on 11x instead of just getting there.

I've now had problems each time I use the "cmos reloaded" feature. Whether it has anything to do with my problems or is merely correlation I'm beginning to sour on those things.

I'm also becoming a little superstitious about changing the DRAM volt setting to anything other than "auto".

I don't have the full sequence of events here (had to leave for work, am writing this afterward) because I know I unplugged the case, had it on its side at least 2 times (possibly 3) changing the CMOS jumper to clear.

Anyone have any insights for me?

Did I do something very backward? Is this like the "cold boot" problem people are describing?

Any good words are welcome.

-Thank you,
-SynapticBliss

EDIT:
Antec SLK3700BQE
DFI Ultra Infin 400,
AMD XP-Mobile 2400 AQYFA
OCZ Performance Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
SLK900a hs, 92mm Panaflo
WindowsXP Pro

It sounds like you may have borked your system files on your hard drive. First off, when you go into the bios, check to make sure that your hard drive is being detected. If not then try unplugging the cable and power connector and then reconnecting them.

If your hard drive is being detected, I would see if you can boot up from another hard drive, if you have an extra. I don't know how much data you have on your current hard drive or if any of it is irreplaceble but you could try reformatting and then reinstalling your operating system.

I just checked and I see that you are using Windows XP Pro. I have never used XP before, I use Win2k so before you go reformatting, I would try and get some responses from people that use XP.

Just a word of advice on overclocking, take it slow. When increasing your fsb, go up by no more than 5 fsb at a time. When you are getting into an area where there is a definate possiblity of instability, you should move the fsb up maybe 1 or 2 at a time. The same goes for the multiplier, just move it .5 at a time to be safe.

Remember too that generally when you increase your settings above the stock settings, you will probably have to increase the vcore. I noticed that yours is at 1.65 and you didn't mention that you increased it. In order for me to run my xp2400m at 2.4ghz, I have to put 1.825 v into it. I have good cooling so temps are not a problem and I see that you have an excellent heatsink so you should be able to run at 1.85v or more, as long as you have decent case ventilation.

Hope this helps.

I too, have noticed similar problems when OC-ing. If I jump up any one setting (particularly vcore, vdimm, and multiplier) too high at any one time, the mobo gives off warning beeps. Even though I never change it past settings that my system is comfortable with, it still beeps when the settings are changed too much at once. I'd like to know more on this issue, so if anyone has anything, please, share.