i just installed ubuntu and all i have is a mouse pointer and a tan sceen with no icons or menu bar what did i do wrong?

please install or reconfigure x-server and /or gdm (Gnome display Manager) looks like your graphics are creating problem by the way which ubuntu version u have installed.
Thanks

During bootup do you get to a menu with a few different Ubuntu options? Choose the one that has "fix x-server" as this usually help fix graphics problems. If you drop down to a "Root Shell" and type in

uname -a

then that should give which version number of Ubuntu you are installing. I think then exit (or quit?) gets you back to the menu and the top option continues the normal bootup. Alternatively type in

reboot

or

shutdown -r now

On a command-line you can get a quick help guide by typing " --help" or " -h" after a command. It's good to do this to check commands people tell you to use, just to make sure they've got it right and to help understand what they are asking you to do. For example try

uname --help

reboot --help

and of course

shutdown --help

also the tab key helps with 'autocomplete' or rather 'predictive texting'. Hope this helps a little
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Ooops, it's late here. In my last post i meant ...

During bootup do you get to a menu with a few different Ubuntu options? Choose the one that has "recovery mode" at the end, and then try "fix x-server" in the menu it takes you to as this usually help fix graphics problems.

well at this point i have a log in screen with a bar with an options tab for logging off and such and after i log in i have a blank screen with a mouse pointer would this still be a graphics problem?

Yes, it does sound like a graphics problem and i still can't find the superb help page in documentation that i found last week but forgot to bookmark :(

The boot menu i was talking about happens a long way before the orange progress bar appears. When you first switch on the machine you should get a splash screen advertising your mbord, then you get some info about hard-drives (Primary, Secondary and such like), then you get the bios tables about IRQ's and stuff, possibly you then get a bit where it looks at your cd drives to see if there's something bootable there. At last you should reach an almost blank screen perhaps with single lines of text at the top and bottom. Around this point there should be a brief note to "Press Esc to get the grub-boot-loader-menu" or something like that. Press Esc now before the orange cylon and progress bar appears! Now you should get the menu but it might take a couple of goes before you manage to get it. It's one of those things that's much easier with hindsight as it's all a bit fast around then during the bootup sequence.

Anyway that menu should have a line with "recovery mode" at the end, and then try "fix x-server" in the menu it takes you to as this usually help fix graphics problems.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)