Possible Duplicate:
How to install software or upgrade from old unsupported release?
What do I need to install in 9.04 in order to upgrade to the last version on Ubuntu?
Possible Duplicate:
How to install software or upgrade from old unsupported release?
What do I need to install in 9.04 in order to upgrade to the last version on Ubuntu?
Always make backups of important data first.
After you've rescued your files, do a clean install of Ubuntu 12.10 (or 12.04). (Note, this will delete all files on your harddisk, so make sure you've rescued any important data before you do this).
Alternatively, you could try to upgrade automatically from 9.04 to 12.10 by following these steps: upgrade from 9.04 to 12