system will not do anything...monitor doesnt even turn on...no beeps or nothing....

Could be anything.

Most likely suspects are heat and power problems.

Check power supply is sufficient for the CPU and motherboard combination.  AMD give recommendations as to power supply requirements.  Other experts may supply the link.

Check fans are working correctly to get rid of the heat.  Check CPU fan working.

And try both of your graphics cards in other machines to see if they are working.  It is possible that your PCI card has given up the ghost.

what do you mean "given up the ghost"?
I just tried to reset the CMOS, and it doesnt seem to do it. I followed the procedure, but I do not get the 2 beep error that I am supposed to get. The procedure that i followed is to short the pins on the motherboard for 10 seconds and then turn it back on, does anyone know another method? would removing the battery for a long time do it also?

take the battery out for a couple minutes then when you restart goto bios screen and 'set to defaults'....

OK
Now the system is starting up, it is not freezing in the BIOS setup menu anymore, but it still willl not work with an AGP card. I know that the card works because I took it from a computer that was working perfectly.
any ideas what I can do to make the AGP card work? I have all the settings on jumper-free mode

wow, this system is cracked out...
It started to load windows XP and then the monitor just turned off...

I think you need to go through this step by step. Check all connectors for drives, power etc thoroughly. Check fans, as has been mentioned, and that heatsinks are firmly attached. Re-seat memory modules and processor.

Then try to start the machine with video card only. Browse through the BIOS settings and see if you have some kind of failsafe setting. Also check for BIOS settings concerning video, if any.

Next try hooking up an FDD and boot the box with a bootable floppy. Let it sit for a while, make sure it doesn't freeze. Go oon hooking up hardware, like a HD and see that it handles OK.

If you get problems right from the beginning, you may try exchanging the memory modules.

Regards
/RID

yea, i tried all of that, i tried 3 diff mem modules, all i have connected it video, cpu & ram
now the monitor wont even turn on at all

Have you tried a different CPU fan?  Have you tried running this open on the bench with a desk fan blowing across the CPU?  As already mentioned, you are probably experiencing heat problems.  Then again, you probably aren't.  It is probable that you were given this setup because it is defective.  Since you have verified all components other than the mobo/cpu, you need to try a different CPU and see if all goes well.  If not, try a different mobo.

yea, i have it layed out on my desk with about an inch separation from the desk and i have the CPU fan and one of those huge Fans blowing on the whole mobo.

oh well, i give up with this system, thanx for the help anyway

SOme mohterboards simply do not work well with certain VGA and other cards.
VIA chipsets are notorious for this, and they have updates all the time.

I would stick with PCI for the moment and then do a little research on your motherboard and chipset and see the known problems.

Perhaps a BIOS update may help ?

Good luck !

Okay.  What do you plan to do with this question?  Are you going to delete it?

yea, i think im going to delete it, i dont remember how to do it though

You would need to post a 0-point question for Community Service (link at left) with a request to delete it for you.  I believe this question has a usefulness to others so you may want to ask for a points refund and the question be PAQd instead.

No comment has been added lately, so it's time to clean up this TA.
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