maybe someone can help w/ quake4 issue?

I was installing Q4 on a friends pc 2.53ghz p4 1gig pc2100 pny agp 6600256mb vc. everyhting installed fine but when we start the game(new) it goes to the load screen and loads about 3/4ths of the way then it goes back to the main menu? Downloaded the 1.2 patch <no help keeps doing the same thing.
another thing i noticed is when we uses automatic detect settings the screen goes white for a few seconds then goes back to normal. i dont remember it doing that on my pc's
Any idea?
1 thing i just thought of the mobo is an abit (pretty sure) but it only has Agp 4x while the card is 8x it is reverse compatabile with 4x. can this be an issue dont recall quake requirements for video?
he ran the original call of duty no issues



Thanks:

Quake4 is quite a bit more intensive to run than call of duty was. Just because COD works doesn't mean it will run Quake4.

A couple of thoughts, it could be that your video card is overheating as its loading textures to it, in which case I would make sure that the heatsink and fan are seated properly, if its an old card maybe some new thermal paste might work.

Also you have have some defective ram, I've seen it on some pieces of ran that everything else works fine but when you load certain programs it will load to a certain part of the ram that is defective and will stall or have other problems, I don't know if that would take it back out to the main menu but it might