frames and reading of .emacs?

[Jan Even Nilsen <evenREMOVE@THISgfi.uib.no>]

Hi, fellow emacs users.
I have changed my system from Linux red hat 9 to mandrake Linux, running
GNU Emacs 21.3.1 (i386-mandrake-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw3d scroll bars) 
of 2003-08-27 on ke.mandrakesoft.com, modified by Mandrake

Now on this system the initial frame does not position correctly 
according to my setting

(setq default-frame-alist      '((top . -00) (left . 300) (width . 89) 
(height . 51)  (cursor-color . "red") (background-color . "khaki")))

However, M-x new-frame gives a frame in the right position.

Possibly (un)connected to this is the fact that I have to run
load-file "~/.emacs"
to get all the settings in my .emacs working. Particularly annoying is 
the ugly blue and white region-face, while i prefer only the backround 
to be discretely darker, keeping the other font-lock colours by having
(custom-set-faces
'(region ((t (:background "lightgoldenrod3"))))
)
in .emacs

The two problems may be unconnected, but whats puzzling is that when
M-x new-frame follows the instructions in .emacs regarding frames
and load-file "~/.emacs" works nicely, why does it not work at initial 
startup?

Regards,
Even