How to boot without video card? ASUS P5Q-E

U

unrlmth

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
254
So I just finished installing ClearOS and configuring my network, but I can't figure out how to get it to boot without the video card. It's currently running with a 4870, but I want to take it out for the power savings.

My motherboard is an ASUS P5Q-E and I haven't really found any information on how to do this or if it is even possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
unrlmth said:
So I just finished installing ClearOS and configuring my network, but I can't figure out how to get it to boot without the video card. It's currently running with a 4870, but I want to take it out for the power savings.

My motherboard is an ASUS P5Q-E and I haven't really found any information on how to do this or if it is even possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I never knew this was possible. Most if not all boards need a video source to boot, why not just throw in a cheap pci video card ?
 
dashpuppy said:
I never knew this was possible. Most if not all boards need a video source to boot, why not just throw in a cheap pci video card ?
Click to expand...

I sorta wanted to avoid that, and from my google searches it sounded like other people were doing it, but with no instructions how.
 
I believe it's called "headless" mode. If your BIOS doesn't have that option, then you can't.
 
Probably the wrong forum, however...

I've never ran into a problem with a pc not booting because of no video option onboard or dedicated?

I've ran pfsense boxes and servers made from consumer grade hardware before without issue. You're problem is unique to me.
 
^
That motherboard doesn't have onboard so he needs a video card for it to even POST. Most consumer grade motherboards are like that. Hell, most motherboards in general are like that. I'd just use a cheapy video card and call it done. 20 bucks on Newegg or eBay will do the trick.
 
Headless mode is just that, headless (no monitor). It doesn't reference the frame buffer :p

You *may/should* be able to do this, depending on the bios. You'll probably have to listen to the beep code for missing video, but that's a minor irritation.

Try setting the bios to "halt no errors" (or the like) and see what it does.

Older motherboards would never boot w/o video. If you've been around long enough, you've seen this plenty of times.
 
/usr/home said:
^
Most consumer grade motherboards are like that.
Click to expand...

Then our experiences contradict. My current "server" with a consumer ASRock board has no onboard video and posts. As did the MSI board I was using previously, as does the Biostar motherboard in the pfsense box I use.

I have to insert a card for installation. Afterwards i pulled the card out and they all woudl post. never had to configure the bios for this.

to be completely honest, while I've never looked, I've never noticed a headless option in the bios. Image search on google didnt return anything either.
 
Headless is an option (if hardware supports it), but it just seems so much simpler for the OP to put in a low-end graphics card to cut the power usage and call it a day.
 
I think some asus boards can do it and others can't. I had an old P5B Deluxe running esxi and it booted fine without a video card.
 
Thanks for the tips, but I couldn't find a way to do it on my board. I might try and see if I can get it to work on my Foxconn Blackops board, but I looked at the BIOS and didn't see anything promising.
 
Cheap, low end, passive card would probably be the easiest way to reap the benefits without changing the board i'd have thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top