Install problem on Dell Inspiron 8000

[Aging Technogeek]

I am trying to install Mint on an old Dell Inspiron 8000 (1 ghz Pentium III, 512 mB ram, 40 gB hdd. Ram and hdd new installs.). When loading from live CD everything seems okay until the desktop comes up. First, the user logout screen appears, then the desktop comes up but it isn't right. the resolution is very low causing icons to appear quite large. Also, it looks like I'm getting three desktops overlapping. I see the left side of one desktop as far right as the show desktop icon, a second screen shows from the right edge of the center acreen Mint logo to the right edge, and the htird screen shows both the left and right sides far enough to display all menu bar icons but is missing the center section. All functions that I can reach the icons for work (more or less) . I checked the CD in another computer and it is booting with compiz-fusion set to enable desktop wall and effects set to custom. I ussed this same CD to install Mint in two computers before this one and everything went smoothly, so I'm pretty sure the CD is good. It acts like compiz can't adapt to the 4x3 aspect ratio screen on this old unit. Is there any way to disable compiz or at least the desktop wall function early in the boot process?
I've only been using Mint for about 10 days but I've already decided that it will be my only OS from now on. So far this is the only problem I've had and this smells like a compatibility question rather than a bug in the OS.
Speaking of compatibility, I ran Mint on the Inspiron in compatibility mode. I got a 4x6 inch desktop and any menu or other windows I launched overfilled the screen to the point that I couldn't get to the close screen icon in the upper right corner.

(edit) Decided to nuke the hdd, reload XP home, and sell the unit. Would still be interested in any theories as to why Mint wouldn't boot properly.

[Husse]

(edit) Decided to nuke the hdd, reload XP home, and sell the unit. Would still be interested in any theories as to why Mint wouldn't boot properly.

I hope you did not just format the hdd - because then anyone with some knowledge can read your secrets
I have not read the rest - why?
Please don't write in one massive block - it becomes very hard to read especially for an aging moderator
A few linebreaks makes a great difference
And welcome to Mint

[Aging Technogeek]

I hope you did not just format the hdd - because then anyone with some knowledge can read your secrets

I used Boot and Nuke to erase the hard drive.

Sorry about the large text block; will remember in future to allow for aging eyes (like my own).

Anyhow, I never found a solution to the problem of why Mint would not run on an eight year old Dell Inspiron laptop. It would be nice to know so the problem could be avoided in future.

Thanks for your time. You might as well mark this thread closed.

[neiljadman]

Nah - don't close it yet - I'm having the exact same problem. Any ideas anyone?

The same happened with Puppy, but at least Puppy gave me the option to adjust the screen resolution during the boot...