1. Check the lm-sensors project site and see if your hardware is supported.

http://www.lm-sensors.org/

2. If so, install configure lm_sensors.

3. For visual display I use gkrellm but you can also use gdesklets (Gnome,
although the gdesklets project has little activity lately). For KDE there
is ksensors

4. If if your hardware is not supported by lm_sensors, your CPU temperature
may show up in gkrellm. This is the case with my Dell laptop that has a
Intel Mobile CPU.

I had already installed lm-sensors and I just ran the sensors-detect
script. It has a list of stuff at the bottom and asked, "Do I want these
lines added to the /etc/modules automatically - I chose yes.

I got gdsklets and it says it cant find any lm-sensors.

Ok. Something serious happened here.

I thought that maybe after running the lm-sensor detect script that I
would have to reboot but now, I only have 640x480 resolution. I cant
make any of the screens smaller. And I cant tab between them either.

lm_sensors should have put the sensor modules in "/etc/modules"; at least
that's where they are on my Dapper machine at the office. You can try
commenting out (#) all or some of the modules that are being loaded.

You'll have to edit via a terminal using sudo:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

Then reboot or unload the modules using modprobe

sudo modprobe -r module-name

Then restart X:

logout, then use "CTL-ALT-Backspace" to restart X.

Rebooting may be easier.

Your hardware may not be supported or a module was loaded that really
screwed your video up.

I have rebooted several times. I was finally able to get synaptic to
come up but after uninstall I still have a horrid screen.

I just had the console up and I could see the "show-all" desktop button
and a message came up stating:"no window manger installed."

Well, Im totally locked out of my computer. Well, not locked out but
locked off.

Because I couldnt open but one app at a time I decided to run
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and that I thought fixed my
resolution problem. Well, when I booted I see my resolution is fixed
but, after logging in Im presented with only a white screen - nothing
else.

What the hell have I done to my computer? Its totally fragged! At
least I could do something before but now without access to anything,
I cant even get a terminal up.

I got my 7.04 CD out and booted up. I navigated to the xorg.conf file
and while reading at the xorg site it appears to me that things are
fine in the file but, I surely cant boot to any screen resolution
other than 640x480.

boot a LiveCD of Ubuntu and see if the desktop comes back. I know that
lm_sensor is a death sentence for IBM laptops.
I think if the desktop comes back,then u need a rescue CD to repair
your video driver to work.

I can use the LIVE cd to boot but that is booting from the cd. I still
have a 640x480 screen though. What about i2c? I have already removed
lm-sensors but that was before I lost my desktop. How can I remove a
package when I dont have access to the os?