upgrading ubuntu to 9.1

I have an old pc that runs perfectly on the unbuntu 9.10 liveCD
When you try to install, it gets as far as the partitioning window and 
shows no drives at all.
Even though it can see and mount the drive whilst in liveCD mode.

So using liveCD mode I used Gparted to delete all partitions from the drive
Tried the install again and same problem - no drive shown.

So I used Gparted to create partitions manually and then tried the 
install - same problem no drives shown.

So I booted from an older Ubuntu 8.04 CD and installed that without issue.

Then, with a fresh install of 8.04 present, used the "upgrade to 9.10" 
feature from the update manager.

2 hours later after downloads and file updating is done it requires a 
reboot.

No GUI and all sorts of xserver errors - oh yay!
( to be honest I half expected that because I've NEVER had one of those 
upgrades actually work )

So ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and managed to get GUI up as far as 
the login screen.
After logging in it turns to poop with what looks like 4 desktop spaces 
squashed into one and masses of horizontal lines making anything unreadable.

Any ideas as to how to get my screen back?

chris