Can't Seem to OC my Q6600

Hi guys!

Im new to overclocking and kind of ran into a bind, experimented for the past week now, and nothing seems to work properly or right.

I've read the Newbie Guid on how to overclock Quad Q6600 Sticky, but cant seem to get it right.

I followed the newbie sticky on OC Q6600 to the dot, but still can't seem to get it to overclock. Since im using a Gigabyte motherboard compared to the ASUS Bios of the sticky, some settings were different. But i still read the manual and followed it through exactly.

BIOS Settings Summary:

CPU Enhanced Halt(C1E) : Disabled(changed from Enabled)
CPU EIST Function : Disabled(changed from Enabled)
Virtualization Technology : Disabled(changed from Enabled)

CPU Clock Ratio : 9x(default)
CPU Frequency : 3.0Ghz (9x333)
CPU Host Clock Control : Enabled(changed from disabled)
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 333(entered in the FSB i wanted)
PCI Express Frequency(Mhz) : 100(changed from auto)
C.I.A. 2 : Disabled(default)
System Memory Multiplier(SPD) : 2.00A(changed from auto)
Memory Frequency(Mhz) : 1066 / 667(greyed out so can't change this)
DRAM Timing Selectable(SPD) : Manual(changed from Auto)

Timings:

CAS Latency Time : 5(changed from Auto)
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5(changed from Auto)
DRAM RAS# Precharge : 5(changed from Auto)
Precharge delay(tRAS) : 15(changed from Auto)

Sub-Timings:

Did not touch/change anything in here!

Clock Diving & Skew Control:

CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control: 800mV(default)
CPU Clock Skew Control: Normal(default)
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control: Normal(default)

System Voltage:

System Voltage Control: Manual(default)
DDR2 OverVoltage Control: Normal(default)
PCI-E OverVoltage Control: Normal(default)
FSB OverVoltage Control: Normal(default)
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control: Normal(default)
MCH Reference Voltage Control: Normal(default)
DDR Reference Voltage Control: Normal(default)
DDR Termination Coltage Control: Normal(default)
Loadline Calibration: Disabled(changed from Enabled)
CPU Voltage Control: 1.2625v(changed from Normal)
Normal CPU Vcore: 1.37500v (greyed out so couldn't change this part)


What I did
1st Attempt: with all of the above settings
a. Saved to CMOS and Exit
b. Computer booted passed POST, tried to load windows and ran into the Black Screen of Death(Windows Boot Manager), saying a file is corrupted/missing.

2nd Attempt: with all of the above settings, this time took out 2x of the Kingston Ram and left the Corsairs. Also I resetted the Memory Timings to Auto instead of using 5-5-5-15
a. Saved to CMOS and Exit
b. Computer turned on and off 3times during the POST, loaded windows succesfully.
c. Opened CPU-Z to check my settings, CPU has been resetted to stock 9x266 Mhz, still running at 2.4Ghz
d. Restarted and went into BIOS, my settings was automatically changed back to default ><

3rd Attempt: went into BIOS and "Loaded Optimised Defaults", this time only changing the following

CPU Clock Ratio : 9x(default)
CPU Frequency : 3.0Ghz (9x333)
CPU Host Clock Control : Enabled(changed from disabled)
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 333(entered in the FSB i wanted)

a. Saved to CMOS and Exit
b. Computer booted pass POST, got into windows and opened CPU-Z
c. CPU-Z still says I have 266Mhz FSB, 9x Multiplier and 2.4Ghz.
d. Restarted and went into BIOS and my above settings have been automatically resetted ><


So my question is

1. How do I make this damn mobo listen to me?
2. Am I doing the right thing?
3. I tried OC CPU and Memory at the same time, it didn't work so went back and tried to OC the CPU only, leaving all default Memory settings and it still didn't work?
4. How come it keeps resetting my CPU settings even after i saved to BIOS and rebooted? Is it a countermeasure of the board or something?
5. I even tried tweaking settings here and there, entering Vcore, default Vcore letting the BIOS fine-tune the Vcore. Still doesnt help?

Damn mobo! this is driving me nuts seriously! I love to play around with my computer, but this OC business is driving me crazy, many sleepless nights trying to fix the damn thing /cry

Cheers
Haji

My Rig:
Windows VISTA 64Bit Home Premium
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz G0
GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4
2x GIGABYTE HD 3870 512Mb DDR4 CrossfireX
Seagate 640Gb SATA Raid0(Stripe)
2x 1Gb Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D DDR2 PC-8500 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15-2T 2.2v
2x 1Gb Kingston HyperX KHX8500D2K2/2GN DDR2 PC-8500 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15 2T 2.2v
Creative Xi-Fi ExtremeGamer Sound Card
Thermaltake Big Water 760i Water Cooling Kit
Thermaltake Toughpower 750watts PSU
Viewsonic 27.5" LCD Monitor @ 1920x1200

You listed a bunch of things but what exactly did you change beside 333x9?

put you ram on the lowest divider just to make sure, possibly pull out 2 of your sticks as your using mixed sets. this may have an impact.
Thermaltake water cooling is very bad, but since you got it, stick with it. (click the link in my sig and you can see the differance)
Probably disable loadline calibration and put the vcore on 1.3500v (this is the default max voltage) and give that a go. good bit of kit there anyway!
to the forums!

hmm, i'm not familiar with gigabyte style bios's but i would try ocing one thing at a time and not try both the ram and cpu at the same time. get the ram done to what you want first then try for the cpu.

thanks for the reply and warm welcome, i've been watching this forum for over 6months now and just recently joined and decided to OC my rig. You guys gave me the inspiration and motivation to btw =)

anywho, sorry for the long post it was kinda in a rush and posted during my lunch break. ill edit it again now so u guys can see a clearer picture of what i did exactly.

thanks again ^_^

Cheers
Haji