<blockquote> The Xorg log shows VESA(0): initialising int 10 VESA(0): V_BIOS address 0x0 out of range . . . Unloading vbe Screens found, but none have a usable configuration. Fatal server error: no screens</blockquote> This typically indicates a driver issue (or some type of incompatibility with your video card). Either your card isn't being auto-detected properly, or the drivers that come with that distribution of Ubuntu have a problem detecting the video in your "very new" laptop. Or you've tried manually configuring the video driver and it's not correct enough to work. Auto-detection normally works pretty well these days with most distros, and I haven't had to edit an xorg.conf file in several years. But you can either try editing the X config file manually or try a couple other distros. Maybe Ubuntu 13.10? Those aren't your only options, but that's all I could say off the top of my head, for I am no expert.expert. When you're at the terminal prompt, have you been able to set up your Internet (in order to run 'apt-get' to upgrade to the latest software in the Ubuntu repo)?

<blockquote> The Xorg log shows VESA(0): initialising int 10 VESA(0): V_BIOS address 0x0 out of range . . . Unloading vbe Screens found, but none have a usable configuration. Fatal server error: no screens</blockquote> This typically indicates a driver issue (or some type of incompatibility with your video card). Either your card isn't being auto-detected properly, or the drivers that come with that distribution of Ubuntu have a problem detecting the video in your "very new" laptop. Or you've tried manually configuring the video driver and it's not correct enough to work. Auto-detection normally works pretty well these days with most distros, and I haven't had to edit an xorg.conf file in several years. But you can either try editing the X config file manually or try a couple other distros. Maybe Ubuntu 13.10? Those aren't your only options, but that's all I could say off the top of my head, for I am no expert.