hey i had a prom with an amd system b4. turns out the mobo i had didn't like my cpu (a new mobo which was the exact same model got along fine so problem solved). to this day i have no idea why that specific motherboard didn't work with my cpu. anyway what i'm tring to say is to follow the advice of your friend and find out which parts work and which may be "conflicting" with each other.
also with agp cards ... i have know some to require ram with memery on both sides of the stick so the cpu can pull from one end and the graphics can pull from the other, sorta like tug-o-war, although this might not be the case trying different parts (i.e grap some diff ram n c what happens, diff cpu, pci graphics...) is the best way to figure out what's going on.
hope all goes well, keep us posted!
