Another question is what kind of graphics card/chip set are you using
and are you using the open source or proprietary drivers for it? I get
moderately better definition from my monitor using the NVidia driver as
opposed to the supplied open source driver. They both do well at
resolution and refresh detection. I am using 12.04. If I remember
correctly, the 9.x series open source drivers lagged behind the
proprietary drivers. Might be worth considering an upgrade. Although I
would try a 12.04 live disk of your flavor to see if there is a
difference in resolution detection and display.