installed ubuntu 12.04. boot menu is split and flashes on bootup
 

how to fix boot menu so it can be read?

tomglen,

On another computer download Boot-Repair, either on a CD or USB drive and then follow the instructions here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

beachboy2 thank youfor your quick response.
Tried Boot-repair disk as you suggesred but did not fix the problem. Screen is still split and flashes makinf it hard to read any other suggestions would be appriciated.
tomglen

Are you able to get to the grub shell?

have you tried a NEW version of ubuntu ?
12 is 3 years old

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or 14.10

12.04 might be to old for any new hardware

unable to get into shell (don't know how).
This machine is probably 8 years old.

Thank you both appreciate your help. Any other suggestions?

Install MINT...

http://www.linuxmint.com/

A shot in the dark here, but are you sure (given the age of the machine), that you just don't have bad hardware??? Can you boot any live distro of Linux from USB/CD/DVD, and get a clear picture on the screen?

Tbone Thanks for your reply. The flashing split screen is the main problem. Everything else seem s fine except sound problems that are intermitten.

did the screen do the same thing with the bootrepair disk?

colorpurple: When I booted the boot repair disk the screen did not flash and was not split
boot was normal. No change after I ran boot repair.

boot the bootrepair disk, run bootinfo and post the results.