It is extremely difficult for me to fix your system if you are new to Linux (nothing wrong with that) and also I am not physically at your machine to do it. Since HD installs can be very complicated, we tell people to not install it to the HD unless they are experts at Linux. http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/HD_Insta...g_not_to_do_it
There are other distros of Linux that are designed for easy userfriendly installation with full hardware support. You may want to look at Linspire, Suse 10.0, Ubuntu 5.10, or Mandriva Linux 2006.