Screen resolution key info causes problems when screen is upgraded

Not sure which list is the correct one for this issue, but thought I'd 
start here. I'm running Debian Sarge (currently seems to be a mixture of 
bits from 2.6.1 and 2.4.2 - nautilus though is 2.6.3) and recently upgraded 
my screen to one that runs at 1600x1200 from one at 1280x1024. Starting 
into gnome resulted in a screen that was corrupt - but only if starting 
from the main (non-root) user. Screen looked fine booting into kde or into 
gnome from root. So likely source of issues was something in main user 
directory. Sure enough using gconftool-2 to clear all keys from 
/gnome/desktop/screen (where a reference to the old 1280 resolution was 
lurking) fixed the problem.

Which component likely stored the info in that key? Perhaps something 
should clear that key on startup if the XF86Config-4 file changes?

Greg