better resolution
 

When I set ask in lilo.conf and chose a higher resolution than I current have I see the chosed resoulotion for about a half second then it gets back to the original. I have slack 8.1 and nvidia geforce ti200 and amd 1800+.

What do I do to fix this?

It sounds like the lilo framebuffer is working, but then the X config kicks in. If it is X that is changing the resolution, then you probably need to edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config file and set the resolution for the video in the screens section.

If your problem is not related to X because X hasn't been started yet, then please ignore below, and post back for others to know.

I posted below my Screen section. You can see the DefaultColorDepth is set to 24, so the 24 bit subsection will be the subsection in use.

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "ATI Mach64"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x400"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

The first resolution offered is the default resolution that X will use. In my case, 1280x1024. If you are not sure if the monitor section will handle the resolution that you desire. Then list it last in the list. When X is restarted, use [ctrl][alt][-] or [+] (the minus and plus are the numeric keypad keys) to switch to the modes provided in the list. If the resolution desired functions properly then move it to the first in the list, and restart X.


Sorry, but I do not know how to get the file info above to format correctly. It looks perfect in the edit window.

test mode
 

my problem is in text mode, X is working perfectly.

I had a similar problem on my laptop, it was down to the vesa framebuffer kicking in then a specific kernel module for my graphics card taking over, so it reverted to (in my case) a higher res than I wanted

this howto proved helpful in solving the problem:
http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/Framebuffer-HOWTO-5.html

it explained which sections in the kernel config file do what.

It may be a case of tailoring the framebuffer section in your kernel config to suit your video hardware and then recompiling, worked for me :)