10.10 -blank menus after clean install

What GPU do you use?

GPU ...i think the graphics card is a nvidia as i remember. it is an inspiron 6000 from about 2008. which number down icon gets
 me to the system info so that i can check? thanks

Nvidia is good enough. Add the boot option:

nouveau.blacklist=1

And it should boot, you can then install the proprietary driver

sorry...que?

i can find boot files on a DOS windows system but where do i start with this ?

thanks for your time

i'm not supposed to edit GRUB.CFG it appears?

mmm

Hold shift at boot, then press E then delete the words:

quiet splash

and add the words:

nouveau.blacklist=1

Press ENTER to continue the boot

okay - great info thanks. ActionParsnip.
at the moment i have no echo during boot it goes straight to GUi/login even if i hold the shift. Interestingly... though i noticed or it has suddenly appeared the option to open the 'desktop' version (at login) even tho i only installed the netbook version. 10.10
With this i pretty much get the full top and bottom panels with only the workspace icons missing (bottom right) . and i can work with this.
But
i still do not have the scrolling 'launcher bar' -i think it is called- on the LHS of the screen, in fact the little spaces do not even cause a reaction as they do in the netbook boot.

i'll live with it for now, since i am new to ubuntu anyway.

many thanks

For boot menu not displayed, see second part of:
https://answers.launchpad.net/grub/+faq/1682

thanks.
gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub2 -does nothing -goes back to the prompt
gedit /etc/default/grub2- opens a fresh grub2 file (empty)

i think the system is reading the unity.....menu file rather?

i have my screen res quite low (1400x1054) since i like/need the bigger characters

There is
  gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

There is a typo in the FAQ (now fixed), it is
  gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

ok - great -got in there and uncommented - the value was 640x480

didnt work after update and reboot

then i tried 1024x768

then tried 1400x1054 still no loud echo

is it the line about 5 above referring to graphics console on or off?

Could you post result of:
     update-grub --version

mmm.Puzzlement..?!

phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ upgrade-grub --version
upgrade-grub: command not found
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ upgrade-grub
upgrade-grub: command not found
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ upgrade-grub-version
upgrade-grub-version: command not found
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ unity --reset

** (unity:1701): WARNING **: main.vala:110: Unable to parse arguments: Unknown option --reset

** (unity:1701): WARNING **: main.vala:111: Run 'unity --help' to see a full list of available command line options
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ unity --help
Usage:
  unity [OPTION...] -- Unity

Help Options:
  -?, --help Show help options

Application Options:
  -s, --show Show Unity to the user
  -p, --popup Popup the Unity window (for debugging)
  -w, --width Width of Unity window (use with --popup/-p). Default: 1024
  -h, --height Height of Unity window (use with --popup/-p). Default: 600
  -v, --version Show the version and exit
  -b, --webapp Supply a webapp url to have unity load the webapp into your favorites

phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ unity --version

Unity 0.2.46
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ grub2 --version
No command 'grub2' found, did you mean:
 Command 'grub' from package 'grub' (main)
grub2: command not found
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ grub --version
The program 'grub' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install grub
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$ ^C
phil@phil-Inspiron-6000:~$

Simply do a copy / paste on terminal .