I bought the game, rushed home to play it and to my disappointment it won't open. I installed the game just fine and registered my copy but when I click PLAY or double-click the desktop icon the screen goes black like it wants to start then returns to the desktop.

I've searched the boards and the only advice I can find is to change my resolution, and I have, or change the sound quality, which I have.

Any suggestions? I so badly want to play!!!

By the way, I have a brand new put together gaming PC. It's an AMD 64 Athlon 3700+, 1GB RAM, 200GB HD, ATI Radeon X700 PRo PCI Express w/256MB RAM.

Same thing here.  Can't even qualify just how disappointed I am.  $59 bucks.

You can't even get into set up?

What other games have you installed on your rig?

I am wondering if you have a graphics card problem.

I'm in the same boat. However I crash to desktop within 10-30 seconds of loading. If I bypass the Raven and ID spash vids, I can get to the main menu right as it crashes. That's the furthest I've made it.  

I had the lastest vid drivers and now backed it off a bit to troubleshoot. Same problem.

Currently installed are HalfLife 2, Doom 3, Dungeon Seige 2, F.E.A.R. (bought today with Quake 4), Scrapland, Fable, Halo, and WoW.  No problems in any of them.

Do not bypass the splash vids on the first boot.  Also do not put the settings on ultra.  I have gotten locks on that.
also, make sure that YOUR SCREENSAVER IS TURNED OFF.

This thing takes so long to load that the screensaver comes on and it may lock up your system.

This game really pulls your memory.

shut everthing down before loading.

let the opening play thru.

set no higher than high quality.

make sure your screensaver is off.

Unfortunately I am in the same boat!    
I have only WoW, RTCW:ET and now Quake installed and I am seeing the same thing you guys are!    I hope someone posts a resolutions SOON!  Because I went to work all day then went to class tonight and SKIPPED half my class tonight so I can hit and play this game.  

Havent tried it yet, but wanted to post this before I tried for you guys who are trying to play as well. see if this works for you!  This was pulled from the Activision Support site on Quake IV.

Quote

The game crashes or freezes in game.  Answer  Make sure your system meets the minimum system requirements of the game. Make sure you have the latest video and sound card drivers from the manufacturers' websites. Set your desktop to a resolution of 800x600, 32 bit True Color. 1) Right-click on your desktop and select Properties. 2) Click the Settings tab. 3) Set your screen area to 800x600. 4) Set the colors to 32 Bit (True Color). Under Windows NT this will be listed as 65554 colors. 5) Click Apply and OK. All background applications must be shutdown prior to running the game. Turn the hardware acceleration for your sound card to Basic. 1) Click the Start button > Settings > Control Panel. 2) Double-click on the Multimedia icon. 3) Select the Audio tab. 4) Click on the Advanced Properties button in the Playback section. 5) Click on the Performance tab. 6) Reduce the Hardware acceleration to Basic, the 2nd notch from the left. 7) Click Apply and then OK 2 times. Run the game now. Don't forget to turn the acceleration back up to restore the high-end features for your sound card when using other applications. NOTE: For Windows XP 1) Click the Start button > Settings > Control Panel. 2) Double-click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon. 3) Click the Volume tab. 4) Under Speaker settings, click the Advanced button. 5) Click the Performance tab. 6) Reduce the Hardware acceleration to Basic, the 2nd notch from the left. 7) Click Apply and then OK 2 times. Run the game now. Don't forget to turn the acceleration back up to restore the high-end features for your sound card when using other applications.

It worked on my son's machine upstairs (a shuttle with onboard NVidia audio) so I tried throwing in an Audigy 2 ZS from another machine.  It now runs, so I assume it's a driver issue with the onboard sound.

It STILL doesn't support native resolution (1680x1050), doesn't properly support widescreen, and can't seem to change resolution or aspect ratio without restarting.  Much of this is probably the fault of id's engine, and not Raven.  But I really don't think this game went through any significant amount of hardware beta testing.