Running Ubuntu 10.10 in its own partition, also have Oracle Virtualbox 4 with Windows XP.

Because i previously had a problem with a dark screen when i let the laptop on and i didn't use it for a long while i had set Power settings to Never sleep, never let the Display sleep.

Monitor on install set to Laptop resolution 1400 by 1050, refresh rate 60 Hz, rotation Normal.

The problem was when the computer was left on and i returned after about an hour, the screen was unreadable, similar to what used to happen to graphics cards before multisync became normal. So it appears as though the graphics card was asked to use a resolution it couldn't handle and went nuts.

I had to power off the system, on restart everything was fine.

Thanks for any suggestions. ChazD