Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply, i was getting to the stage of throwing in the sponge.

Your advise worked like a dream and took me into desktop. Using ALT+ F1 or F3 and esc gave me an opportunity to look around. A sub panel can be opened for commands but thats where i am stuck again.
I am sure that all the answers are out there somewhere and goggle seems a good place to start.
But could you give me a clue as to what to ask. The answer to how to turn on the mouse comes to mind., but if you feel its a chip problem it looks like a hopeless case.
Regards pop