sorry i found out what the matter was straight after i posted this initial question, i tried to post a reply to say i had sorted it but could not get back to this page, so sorry if you have had your time wasted but i appreciate the advice you offered, i have studied photoshop at college taken exams ...

i have five layers, i wanted to move a layer with the hand tool but the layer and indeed all layers will not budge, no error messages come up, i am on the right layer and nothing is locked, anyone have any ideas, thanx.