well i instaled the latest version of ubuntu on my pc today and i can’t see anything in ubuntu for example i go to open firefox and it jus flashes and does not open full or when i’m updating it ask for a password but i can’t do any thing as i can’t read wht it says it just flickers
and also the screen if of to the right of my monitor no idea how to fix as i’m new to ubuntu as BKS told he how good it was
I’m a bit lost as to what you are trying to describe…
Does the screen flicker at the login prompt ? … or just at the desktop ?
and is the login screen off to the right, or just the desktop once logged in ?
just at the desktop
When you are at the login screen… enter your password, but before hitting enter, look at the bar at the bottom of the screen… there should be an option to change the “Session” to the “Classic” desktop… change it to “Classic” and then log in, and tell me if it does the same thing.
Do you know what graphics card you have ?
Is this a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.04, or an upgrade from an earlier version ?
[EDIT]
Is this a laptop, or desktop PC ?
If laptop, can you post the make/model.
i have changed it to classic and it has not changed any thing
and for graphics card i have no idea as its an old tower
[Edit]
its and normal computor not an laptop
and here is a short vid of the problem
VIDEO0007.3gp
Without knowing which graphics card you have, this may be a hard problem to diagnose.
Are you able to open a terminal ?
You can open a terminal by hitting Ctrl+Alt+T
If you are able to do that, in the terminal enter:
sudo lshw -C display
hit enter, and your password when asked.
Be Aware - you will not “see” anything being entered when you type in your password, but it is going in… so just type it, then hit enter.
then post back what is returned in the terminal.
now here goes
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: 82865G intergrated Graphics Controller
vendor: intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000 : 00 : 02.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vga controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:16 memory: e8000000-efffffff memory: feb80000-febfffff iopor
t:ed98 (size=8)
now only i could understand that
and it think it has an Intel Extreme 2 chip fitted.
as the graphics gard
Reboot your PC, and as soon as your BIOS POST screen disappears, and you see:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/MGalleryItem.php?id=1122
Press SHIFT key and hold it, until you are presented with the GRUB menu
(if you get to the screen with Ubuntu 11.04 with 5 or 6 dots underneath it, you have missed it and will have to try again)
Select the ‘default’ Ubuntu kernel (usually the top one), and rather than pressing enter, press E to edit.
You will be presented with a screen like this:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/MGalleryItem.php?id=1152
Press DOWN ARROW until you get to the line that starts with:
linux /boot
and press the END key to position the cursor at the end of the that line… it usually ends with “quiet splash”.
Now you can enter additional kernel boot options… the nomodeset option has been added in the above screenshot… but you need to add i915.modeset=0 in its place, so make the end of that line read:
[b]quiet splash i915.modeset=0[/b](doesn't matter if it moves down a line, as long as there is a space between splash and nodmraid)
Now hit Ctrl+X to boot.
and let me know what happens.
BTW, if it works, DO NOT reboot yet, or you will have to enter that again to boot… just let me know if it works, and I’ll tell you how to make it permanent.
For clarity that’s
i915.modeset=0
that you need to add.
it worked yay but ever thing is on zoom 
is that ment to happen
NO… the i915 drivers have been fixed recently, so try this…
If you are connected to the internet by a cable to your router… open a terminal, and enter:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
hit enter, and your password.
When that finishes… and you are back at an $ prompt… REBOOT, and let me know what happens… if the problem is back, do what you did above, and let me know.
You MUST have an active internet connection for the above command to work.
[EDIT]
It may be about half an hour before I respond… My curry has just been delivered 
… brb.
nahh gone back to the same problem again and it might be a while before i respond my food has also arrived
i did like you said in the comand set and it did nothin it still was messed up
but in the grub alternation it works fine
OK, to make the earlier change permanent… enter the the i915.modeset=0 line again, so you can boot to a working desktop.
Open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T
in the terminal enter:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
hit enter, and your password when asked.
When gedit opens, find the line that reads:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash”
and change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash i915.modeset=0”
SAVE the file and exit.
Back in the terminal enter:
sudo update-grub
hit enter and your password if asked.
When you are back at an $ prompt… reboot to test you no longer need to add that line at boot time.
If it boots normally, but your desktop is still the wrong resolution… open a terminal and enter:
gnome-display-properties
hit enter.
Is there an option to allow you to change the desktop resolution ? … what are the current settings for Resolution and Refresh rate ?
it doesn’t let me change them
resolution: 640 x 480 (4:3)
refresh rate: 0HZ
and thats on a 32" TV
Does anything happen if you select “Detect Monitors” in that window ?
no it does nada absulutly nothing
OK, a couple of things to try.
Open a terminal and enter:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
When gedit opens, add a new line at the bottom that reads:
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1024x768x32
SAVE the file, and exit gedit.
back in the terminal enter:
sudo update-grub
When that command finishes, and you are back at an $ prompt… REBOOT and tell me if there are any changes.
it didn’t let me change the size on that pannel but its zoomed out abit and its usableish but i would prefer if it were smaller XD
but thanks for your ur help so far
Try changing that line to:-
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1366x768x32
don’t forget to run:
sudo update-grub
after you’ve made the changes… then reboot.
Your other option would be to generate an xorg.conf file whilst the TV is attached… as it seems like the system isn’t able to work out the supported graphics modes of the TV automatically.
do i have to but a # infornt of
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1366x768x32