display problems 2 monitor setup

[jgriner]

well the first time i set up the display every thing went well, then next time i logged in, the displays was reset to mirror. now every time i try to set the monitor to any thing but mirror mode. and change the resolution i keep getting this error...
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/test0000.png/
ubuntu 11.10

[duncan12]

I'm using a laptop. If I ever boot up with the monitor plugged in, I not only have the displays mirroring but get a random error message (something about CRT 0, even though my monitor's not CRT). My desktop theme then changes to something random and I have to reboot (as-well as doing the below paragraph) to fix).

The workaround I use is: unplug the monitor, boot up and log in, plug in the monitor once logged in. This works great.

Obviously this is much easier on a laptop than a desktop where you're climbing under your desk... but just saying I get the same problem, sort-of anyway.