I move my cssmainmenu file to the includes folder and that seemed to do it, although I still have:

Notice line 7: Undefined index: S_ADMIN_CSSMENU
Notice line 13: Undefined index: S_ADMIN_CSSMENU

and no images display

sorry, cleared my cache and loaded all the original coppermine files and that seems to have cleared this issue so i guess it's the modifications made to my theme, although everything is fine on my old server shall i open a new thread in the theming forum? I guess this still is something to do with my server set up though?

many thanks for all your help.

The problem is that you were mixing 9.0.6.1 - 9.1.2.1 files.
If you completely restore your old files and db then just cleaning your cache is all you need to do.

9.0.6.1 does not need the css menu file since its a 9.1.2.1 file.

ok thanks, I thought I had this this, certainly the files were all original. I will create new database from my back up, thanks