Post Install Screen/network problems

[mapwiz]

I am a complete newbie to Linux. I have installed LM on an empty 500Gb disk on a Sony Vaio VGC-JS1E machine. I have two problems that are driving me crazy right now.

I have installed the KDE desktop system.

1. I previously ran Windows 7 successfully on the machine. After completing the automatic install, the screen contains a small view of the KDE desktop (I have also tried Gnome with the same effect) surrounded by on the right of the screen a multi-coloured striped two-inch border and on the bottom of the screen a four inch area that is blank (greyed out). The two borders are not accessible and the window is confined to a small area locked in the left top corner of the screen. I have tried using the built-in tools in KDE to change the screen resolution with no success. I have also tried reinstalling the software three times with no luck. The graphics card is an Intel Graphics Media X4500HD type.

2. The wireless network is not enabled post install. I have gone through network manager checking that it is running and that the network services are turned on - they are but KDE's network manager is not. I have configured the network and started it successfully once. However, on reboot, the network is not available neither is metwork manager and, the settings I have entered are turned off once again.

I suspect I may not be doing something correctly. I would really appreciate any help that you can offer this poor soul struggling away here trying to fix these two problems.

Many thanks for your time - and, thanks too for helping out in this way. This forum and the others are really useful.