craftgrrl | sewing machine problems

i have a kenmore sewing machine
it was given to me by a friend
i do not have the booklet that came with it

for some reason i'm getting all kinds of troubles
i can no longer sew NOW (of the many times i couldn't sew)
because the top thread goes into the bobbin area and gets stuck.
i kno wi inserted the bobbin right
i had to do it a million times for the bobbin to finally work

before THIS was when the bobbin thread was sewing a mass of thread to the bottom of whatever i was sewing
and now this

i'm really frustrated and tired of all of this
anybody can tell me anything?
i couldn't quite find either of these problems in the faq
i found some that sorta reslembled the mass, but not so much