I was having this problem too. Ultimately, my resolution would stay at 800x600 at start up and 50-60% of the time the default xp "carnival colors" would pop up instead of classic. Finally on my 4th reinstall(takes me awhile to get it right) I have solved all of my problems. On last install I loaded the Intel chip set 1st,restarted, installed the graphics drivers, restarted, then I switched to performance in My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Performance..set to performance then restarted and reloaded rest of drivers and apps. It does hesitate a little on the resolution at startup but has not reverted back to default xp theme yet(going on 2 weeks approx now). Just for the record, I had the same problems on all of the first installs with drivers randomly installed