The 1 long, 2 short beep code means is definitely something with the video card, as you stated. It could be that the mobo just won't support the card or it might be that the card is defective. Sometimes you can tell if the card is defective by looking closely at the core and memory for any blemishes but usually those only occur after use. It could have dozens of issues that you'd never be able to spot without an electron microscope. Best bet is to test it in another system that should support the card. If it works, your mobo might not support it and you might need to update the BIOS. If it doesn't work, chances are it's defective and should be returned.
About the Everest thing, yeah, it does that sometimes. It has to do with the way the mobo's BIOS maps the PCI/AGP bus. I've seen it on a few systems that have passed some serious stress testing so it's not an issue.