Adding Driver "nv" to the device section of xorg.conf and Ctrl-Alt-Bksp did the trick and I'm now logged in to the live CD at 1280x1024 so it's definitely the autodetection.
Adding Driver "nv" to the device section of xorg.conf and Ctrl-Alt-Bksp did the trick and I'm now logged in to the live CD at 1280x1024 so it's definitely the autodetection.