VFB Resolution Question

[Janina Sajka]

Back when I ran Red Hat 9 on my IBM Thinkpad T30, setting VGA=832 in my
/etc/lilo.conf gave me exactly what I wanted--64 rows and 175 columns in
console mode.

Somewhere on the way to Severn this all changed. Now I only get this
when I'm running as a portable. But, when I'm docked with a standard
monitor plugged into the dock, I only get the standard 25 X 80.

Yet, according to the higher resolution supported by the T30 on external
displays, it seems I should be geting even more than 64 X 175.

Well, I'd be happy to just get 64 X 175. But, what could be preventing
it? The system specs include:
built-in screen 1400x1050
external display 2048x1536
ATI Mobility RADEON 7500
   Graphics type^ SXGA+
   Video RAM std./max. 16 MB / 16 MB
   Video RAM type^ DDR
   Max resolution (with max video RAM) 2048x1536
   Max colors (with max video RAM) 16777216
   Graphics bus interface^ AGP 4X