help me get started, screen screwed up, no menu...

[papaschtroumpf]

So I installed Kubuntu 14.04 from the DVD.
Didn't start very hot since the entire installer the screen was offset 1/3 to the right (the left 3rd of my screen is black, and I can't see the left 3rd of the screen because it is off the monitor to the right).
if I move a window it gets all garbled, if I'm lucky hovering the mouse over it redraws enough of it for me to read it (I went through the installer that way)

Now that install is finished I have a desktop screen with a blank box "this folder is empty" and nothing else. no menu bar, "start" button, and my screen is still off the the side.

Not the "plug and play" experience I was expecting.

Would another distribution like Mint be better suited to a newb?

[Snowhog]

Something is a miss with your hardware. That's my guess. Tell us about what you have and specifics about your video card. Is this a desktop or laptop?

[papaschtroumpf]

a fairly old desktop (Athlon II) with an nvidia 7800GTX
things looked fine with an older version of Kubuntu (10.04?)
lcd is dell 20" flat panel over DSUB

see attached screenshot showing how hard it is to get anything done

[papaschtroumpf]

I discovered that hte display is also shifted down a bit, if I click blindly I can open the menu

[papaschtroumpf]

installing nvidia-304 still has the display offset, but at least windows seem to be drawn and refreshed properly

[Snowhog]

Have you checked the monitors settings (the settings on the monitor itself)?

[papaschtroumpf]

yes, the offset is way too large to adjust with the image adjustment built in to monitor
Let me try some "live-CDs" to see if they display properly.

[SteveRiley]

installing nvidia-304 still has the display offset, but at least windows seem to be drawn and refreshed properly

Yep, 304 is the last version of the nVidia binary driver that supports the 7800 GTX (source). I wonder if something wonky in /etc/X11/xorg.conf might be the cause of the 1/3 offset. If this file exists on your machine, what are its contents?

[papaschtroumpf]

this is really weird, I connected windows machine to that monitor (with a different video card) and it displaeyd properly
after reconnecting my Kubuntu machine the display was perfectly centered again.
It's almost as if the monitor needed to be "Reset" by connecting to another video card

Problem solved. just not sure how/why