Ubuntu 11.10 installation Screen Display Problem
 

Real newbie so please bare with me.
Installed Ubuntu v. 11.10 and all seems ok with exceptions.
Main query. Screen only displays the top left quarter of the screen.
Graphics section indicates that the Driver is unknown.
I do not see all of the icons as the three other quarters of the screen are
not available, resist entry. The space under the top left quartile has indefined colour stripes.
The right hand half of the screen is Black. 14" Screen and is only showing 640 x 480.
Laptop is an old (10)Dell Inspiron 1100.Graphics are via onboard chip, Intel from memory.
1 mb RAM and a 2.40 Celeron. BIOS is A32 and runs XP fine.
The installation is on a fresh 40 Gb HDD.
I am guessing that I need to find a driver for this but am not sure where to look and how to
apply it if/when it surfaces !
I am working on another computer at this time for ease of contact.
All suggestions welcome TIA

Definitely looks like a video driver problem. What happens if you append nomodeset to the kernel line when booting? That will force Ubuntu to use the vesa driver, which may default to a higher resolution.

Ubuntu 11.10 Display problem
 

Thanks for the reply and info.
Research is telling me that the old Intel GPU onboard chip ( 810i ?) is no good for the top
display and only just working for the Classic version.
I have the option in 11.04 of selecting the Classic but when selected it will not change still leaves Unity screen in 640x480.
I do not need four work screens at this stage of my learning curve.
I thought that if I can get the 11.04 working ok, an update to 11.10 might be a worker?
Your idea of the kernel change to "nomodeset" is worthwhile if can find the courage to attempt it.
I am more a hardware than software chap really.
Your attention is much appreciated.

During the boot process, you are offered the opportunity to edit the boot command. The edit only applies to the current session - it does not actually change the content of the grub.cfg file. If nomodeset on the kernel line doesn't help things, just reboot and you'll be back to what you have now.

Display via 11.04 and 11.10 Dell Insoiron 1100
 

Thanks for the last advice.
The Video/Graphics chip is in fact the Intel 845GL which should be OK for this purpose.
Have changed the BIOS to give "THOROUGH" at POST as opposed to "MINIMAL" or "AUTOMATIC".
The POST still shows nothing on screen to stop and edit ? An F key perhaps ?
I guess I am looking for grub.cfg to insert the nomodeset instruction.
I am missing something here...another clue please as my searches via Google
have not shown me the light as yet.
Kind regards

Booting comes after POSTing. When you boot, you should see a line analogous to this:. You should be able to hit the e key to edit the corresponding entry. The line identifying the kernel starts with the word linux; on my system, it looks like this (and spans multiple lines on the screen):
Somewhere within that line (or at the end), type nomodeset (be sure it's surrounded by spaces), then press the F10 key to continue booting.

Display Problem with 11.04 and 11.10 Dell Inspiron 1100
 

Tried to find the Boot line you mentioned..no sign on the screen
The screen however is only the top left quartile and the bottom section is hidden and will not scroll to view.
The other three quartiles are not accessible as the mouse pointer just will not move them.
The screen is full and good when installing or updating so the problem seems to be only when rebooting
after installation or upgrade on both v11.04 and v11.10...I have tried all combinations.
It is looking as though the Unity screen is extremely Non User Friendly with the Intel 845GL VGA chip
but only AFTER installation.
I think your ideas are valid if only I could get to the areas you have mentioned.
I notice that you are using Fedora and wondered if the screen notices are different to Ubuntu ?
Will try and install on other laptops and see how I get on.
I would still like to get this working on the Inspiron 1100 as I read that this is a problem experienced by others.
Many thanks
Tony

I'm on my netbook now, and here's the entry for Ubuntu 1010 in /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
Can you boot from a live CD/USB flash drive and edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg on the hard drive? My old desktop PC has an Intel 845GL graphics system; it does not play nicely with compiz.

Been away so sorry for delay in replying.
All worked ok on an old 400Mhz Pentium II but very slow of course.
Will try again next week on the laptop re your reply.
Thanks.