windows not displaying

[hedxcold]

so i disconnected my monitor and hooked it up to my laptop (a 2005fpw), and i was remote desktoping into my desktop from my laptop when i wanted to use it. no monitor was plugged into my desktop at all.
now i want to put my monitor back on my desktop. the monitor diplays all the normal stuff on start up, up to the windows logo, then when it comes time for xp to start it just goes black, and goes into sleep mode as if there is no signal.
if i still remote desktop all is fine on my laptop, but no signs of life of anything happening between the monitor and the desktop. also, if i log into safe mode that displays fine between the desktop and monitor.
how can i fix this? in safe mode i wasn't able to do anything with the monitor drivers and in remote desktop playing with the monitor drivers does nothing.
any help please?

edit - i logged into safe mode vga enabled, and then changed the resolution from 640x480 to 1024x780, and the monitor lost the signal from the pc