Help needed...overclocking hell.

Not sure where to post this, but here goes...

Right, I have really screwed something up this time. Here is my new rig:

NEW RIG: AMD 64 3500+ | Asus A8N SLi Deluxe | 2 x Corsair 512MB PC4400 Overclockers RAM| 1 x XFX 6800GT | Creative SoundBlaster Live | 1 x 74GB Western Digital Raptor )Boot + backup & 2x 200gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (RAID 0) | Plextor 716A Black 16 x16±,x4+ Dual Layer DVD | Tagan 480W | ThermalRight XP-120 with Delta Screamer | 2x120mm YS TECH| [Black Akasa Eclipse 62 | L1980U 19" TFT 12ms 500:1 DVI Ultra Slim Black & Silver | Phillips 5.1 Surround Sound| Razer Diamondback Mouse | ExactMat mousemat | Black Cherry Keyboard | WinXP Pro

It has been running fine for a few weeks now, but I hit a problem before. Naturally, buying an Athlon 3500, I want to overclock it a lot. At least up to 2600mhz (starts at 2200). So I started overclocking it a bit a couple of weeks ago, and got it up to about 2600. I left Prime95 running overnight, and it found no errors. Then when playing Warcraft 3, it started giving me funny DIDIDIDIDI noises through my speaker, and then the computer just restarted. I adjusted the overclock, but I put the FSB too high and it froze on boot. I shutdown the computer and fired it up again, and got this message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
Windows/system32/config/system.

(then something along the lines of)"You can attempt to fix this by running the original setup CD and using the repair console. To access the repair console press 'r'."

So I put the XP CD in and tried to repair, but it wouldn't work. Eventually after numerous tests, I used the second partition on my Raptor, and it did a disk check, rebooted, and windows started fine...I didn't have to reinstall windows.

So a few days later (aka last night) I was trying different settings again, and windows booted, but the screen kept flickering on and off, I was guessing the CPU needed more voltage. I pressed the shutdown button and held it on, which meant it shutdown and immediately rebooted (I didn't actually mean to do this, but I didn't think it would do much harm).

Windows didn't load again, and I got the same thing as before:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
Windows/system32/config/system.

(then something along the lines of)"You can attempt to fix this by running the original setup CD and using the repair console. To access the repair console press 'r'."

So I thought, Okay, this should be easy to fix, I'l just do what I did last time. But it didn't work. I tried it, and it said "C: is corrupt and cannot be repaired" (or something like that), please exit setup by pressing F3."

So what the hell do I do? Surely my Raptor can't be bust? It checks okay on startup Im sure. I think it might be something to do with shutdown times on a Raptor, but I would have to research this. Does this mean I have to format C: or is there another option? (Also bear in mind I have 2 200gb Seagate barracudas in RAID 0 which can be used if needed for testing).

Regards,
Ross

Are you locking the PCI speed and which Serial ATA controller are you using ?

If you are running them on the Silicon Image 3114R controller and pushing the FSB up without locking the PCI then this can cause the problems you are experiencing, as the controller on the motherboard runs @ PCI speed which should be 33.33 Mhz but if you start increasing HTT without locking the PCI speed then this rises to a point where errors in the data start occuring once the speed gets to a dangerous point.

If your using the nvidia controller then ignore my rambings :)