If you reinstall your video drivers and reinstall power strip, it usually brings up a dialog box, asking if you want to allow more resolutions to be used. Or something like the operating system may be limiting the capabilities of your monitor.
This was in Windows ME, I'm not sure if it is in XP, but it is a Power Strip box so perhaps it will be.
If you say yes, then you should have just about any resolution available on your system slider. BUT, if you run a game or other app for the first time and it tries to set the overlay to the highest setting allowed then you will exceed the capabilities of your monitor and your screen will go blank. If you use this method, make sure you have a hotkey enabled standard resolution with power strip.
The only way to disable this feature is to go into the registry, or maybe reinstall drivers and power strip. I'm not sure if the latter works. check this thread out.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ion+powerstrip and see Karnis' solution.
using the ctrl key during boot up to use windows safe mode is very useful when dealing with this sort of stuff.