the screen supports 1280x1024. at no point will windows 2000 set a screen res higher than that unless I tell it, which I have not. I have not changed the res, AND I have tried to change it whilst in both safe mode and vga mode.
I am curious if maybe not having the kvm swicth's focus on the computer while in setup has anything to do with it. That is another commonality that I had not immediately thought of.
Thanks for the reply though.