Why can't I get screen to 1600x1200
 

I have loaded Slackware 10 on a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop with an nvidia Geforce 2 Go video card. Why can't I get the screen to 1600x1200 instead of 800x600. I have changed the configuration file to include 1600x1200 but it seems to default to the old screen. This is very frustrating. My screen size has been reduced by probably 50 percent or more. Can someone help with this.

Go to http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl and enter your monitor's specs. You may have a hard getting the specs. You can either call DELL tech support or use Knoppix and look into its config files. I suggest reading some documenation at XFree86 site. It will give you some hints how to setup LCD displays.

I can see you are having problem seeing 800x600 because LCD are not designed for lower resolutions because of their fixed pixel nature.

are you modifying the correct file? slack 10 uses xorg - if you haven't, try to modify xorg.conf, not XF86Config

are your horiz and vert refresh settings correct?

did you install the nvidia driver? (I know nothing about laptops or laptop video cards, cant offer much in that dept.)