Ok,i have the two timelines, video 1a 1b. then i put the transition in, but it won't show up in the monitor view. I tried overlapping the two video lines, and putting the transition between it, i tried putting them all on one line. but it wont do it. how do you add the transisiton?

This is weird. I've never had any trouble with transitions. I don't know if you've tried this or not, but put the two video clips right next to each other, go to the video transition folder and drag your selected transition and put it right at the end of the first clip and at the beginning of the second clip (the transition is split between the two clips). It should work. If it doesn't, I would say that you have something wrong with your copy of premiere.

did u render the timeline after putting in the transition? If all you're getting is a quick flash of a red x, you need to render.