Description of problem:

Under KDE:

Monitor settings in xorg.conf are as follows:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        ModelName    "LCD Panel 1280x1024"
        HorizSync    31.5 - 64.0
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 65.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

I want to change them to a higher resolution (which the Video Card may not
support), in this case 1680x1050.

Select Hardware > Monitor > LCD_Panel_1680x1050; OK; OK

A dialog says "Display settings changed ... configuration was written to
/etc/X11/xorg.conf, original configuration saved as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup"

The xorg.conf file has indeed been written (judging from its modify time) but
its contents have not changed. No xorg.conf.backup has been created.

This also happens if I want to change the LCD panel to a lower resolution. 




so I run xconf.py either from the KDE system menu or from the command line.