3 ways to fix a bad Ubuntu screen resolution
Usefuls.net writes:
I did it again - messed with the X11 configuration and gnome was gone. Not such a big problem I thought - I backed up my /home directory and reinstalled Ubuntu.
After reinstalling Ubuntu I was going to set up the screen resolution to 1920×1200 which was the native resolution of my Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP. I need to log out? OK, done that. Back to my desktop; the screen resolution remained unchanged!