Thanks very much for the suggestions - I tried reformatting the the sd card with FULL OVERWRITE and it is all systems go .

I initially installed openelec, which worked ok. I then copied and pasted raspian onto the sd card.( used the noobs download for that.) any suggestion where I should get Raspian from?
The red and green lights turn on but my display doesn't.
Many thanks.

I am still a total noob with raspberry pi's. I want to replace openelec with raspian - I have downloaded noobs and saved onto the sd card. The Pi does not connect to the screen when I power up with the sd card in place..Any suggestions would be appreciated, thank you.