I am using the same computer which used to work with 7.04. How come something that was working in 7.04 suddenly break in 8.10?
You don't say what Intel graphics chip you have problems with, but your problem matches the GMA 500.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_500_on_Linux
"GMA 500 support on Linux is not optimal. The driver is developed by Tungsten Graphics, not by Intel, and the graphic core is not an Intel one, but is licensed from PowerVR. This has led to an uncertain mix of open and closed source 3d accelerated drivers, instability and lack of support."
Read the rest of the section, it gives some hope that the support has improved since 2008.
In the cases that I looked at, Intel licensed graphics "IP" from third parties that had severe restrictions on what technical information could be published openly, making it incompatible with GPL.