Ubuntu 10.02 goes either to blank screen, or command line with no network

[Dave M G]

Ubuntu Users,

I attempted to upgrade my laptop from 9.10 to 10.04.

Long story short, here is the current situation.

When I boot, if I do nothing, it shows the Ubuntu loading screen for a 
while, and then the screen goes blank. From there, I can do absolutely 
nothing. There isn't a single key combination that I know of that makes 
the screen change in any way. I've tried hitting every key on the 
keyboard without any effect.

If I press the escape key as the Ubuntu loading screen is working, then 
I am given a command prompt. I can log in, but then I have no access to 
the internet. Commands like apt-get will not work.

I think the problem is that it simply needs an Nvidia driver activated, 
but I can neither get into any kind of Gnome interface to activate it, 
or activate it from the command line.

Any suggestions?

-- 
Dave M G