It's almost certainly the video drivers. She's almost certainly got an Nvidia video card in her laptop, and because Nvidia won't release free software drivers (or even the spec) for their cards, they tend to fall over whenever you do an update (incidentally, 10.4 isn't the latest version, 10.10 is - I'm not sure if that was just a typo on your part or what, but she might want to get 10.10).
It's possible that this can be fixed by upgrading the linux headers to match the new kernel version - just do:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
That can be done on the command line, which can probably be got to in the startup menu using a 'safe mode' option or something (I don't know exactly, because I'm using Debian, which is subtly different).
However, it *may* be that even that doesn't work. If so, download the current Linux Nvidia drivers from the links here - http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122606 . Then follow these steps - http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10075666&postcount=45 (they should all be followed from command-line mode). That *should* fix it...
If you need any more help, or if you have trouble understanding the instructions in that last link, I can be contacted at andrew @ thenationalpep.co.uk or via Twitter. I do GNU/Linux stuff for an Incredibly Big Megacorporation as my day job, so I probably know what to do in most troubleshooting situations.
no subject
It's possible that this can be fixed by upgrading the linux headers to match the new kernel version - just do:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
That can be done on the command line, which can probably be got to in the startup menu using a 'safe mode' option or something (I don't know exactly, because I'm using Debian, which is subtly different).
However, it *may* be that even that doesn't work. If so, download the current Linux Nvidia drivers from the links here - http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122606 . Then follow these steps - http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10075666&postcount=45 (they should all be followed from command-line mode). That *should* fix it...
If you need any more help, or if you have trouble understanding the instructions in that last link, I can be contacted at andrew @ thenationalpep.co.uk or via Twitter. I do GNU/Linux stuff for an Incredibly Big Megacorporation as my day job, so I probably know what to do in most troubleshooting situations.