Why does my display resolution reset itself periodically, and how to avoid?

I have a 15" MacBook Pro, 1st gen (2GHz, 2Gb RAM), running OSX 10.4.11 (This problem also occurred the same in earlier OS versions). I run the built-in display at max res (1440x900).
Occasionally, like once or twice a week, when I start up the machine, the display will come up in a funky 1152x720 resolution (4:3 aspect ratio, black bars on left and right edges of screen). The entire contents of the screen are there, just reduced into a smaller display area, and the desktop icons are moved around.
To fix this, I start System Preferences, Displays, and click "Detect Displays", and the screen resets to 1440x900. Funny thing is, if I select the 1152x720 setting manually, it stretches the screen to fit the display (or doesn't compress it horizontally) - I can't actually get the machine into the strange mode with the black bars by selecting any of the options in Displays preference - it only happens occasionally on startup.
Any ideas what's causing this, or how to keep it from happening?

My resolution also changes, but it's in windows. OSX is fine, but everytime i boot up windows it boots up at the lowest resolution. Anybody know why that is?

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