installation problem freezes after username/pw

[mfainter]

Hey all, i'm new to ubuntu. I've been using fedora for a while and heard great reviews about ubuntu so i thought i'd give it a try. Currently i have a machine with windows xp on it. I'd really like to format the drive and install only ubuntu (with suse as dual boot later). I downloaded the newest version from the web. MD5 hash checked it, burnt it at the lowest speed ect...When i put the disk in and restart my computer it goes to the main screen. I click install ubuntu. It seems to go through the install process asking for my time zone, keyboard, ect...however once it reaches 100% of loading the partitioner, the screen seems to idk, mess up (for lack of better words). There are several multi color horizontal lines, and it does this for 2 or 3 different screens. After that, it goes directly to a username and password screen. I don't have any passwords on this computer. I only have 1 username + the guest acct in windows. This computer is not on the net (as of yet). So i've tried administrator, and several password combinations. I've tried my windows username and password combinations with each time it rejecting them. So i let the timer count down and ubuntu seems to log in. This is when it freezes. It goes to a yellowish brownish screen with the mouse pointer and does nothing. I've let it sit there overnight thinking it needed to load up, but no i came to it this morning and still the same screen. Any suggestions as to what i need to do?

Thanks