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#1 2017-12-22 15:59:56

stefano
Member
Registered: 2011-04-09
Posts: 258

Running a server without a video card?

I have an old but (until yesterday) perfectly Arch box that I use as a media/backup and print server. The video card has suddenly started to act funny:
it overheats very quickly (gets above 100C within a few minutes) and the box shuts itself down soon after (as it should).

I am not sure whether it is a hardware problem on the card (NVidia Quadro FX550) or if it is a software issue maxing it out. The card looks ok, and the GPU fan works fine.

At any rate, I naively  thought I could solve the issue quickly by removing the video card and running the server headless---I do all the admin work through ssh already anyways.
AFAIK, Arch should not have any problems if there is no physical console, no should the motherboard.   

Unfortunately, I found out that if I  boot up  the box with the video card removed it never gets on the network. That is, I am not able to access it via ssh.   I am not sure what's
wrong with it, since I obviously have no access to the console. 

Anyone has any idea on how to troubleshoot the situation?

BTW, motherboard is a ASUS P5N-E SLI


Edit: After seeing this forum post I changed the mother board settings to "halt on no error on POST". Nothing changed


Cheers,

Stefano

Last edited by stefano (2017-12-22 16:19:47)

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#2 2017-12-22 22:37:13

Buddlespit
Member
From: Chesapeake, Va.
Registered: 2014-02-07
Posts: 501

Re: Running a server without a video card?

I believe there has to be a way for video output before the bios will allow the system to boot. My headless server had a little gtx210 in it just for that purpose. Plus, it allowed me the ability to plug in a monitor if I needed to change something in the bios. I could be wrong on this tho.... It could be that you may have a xorg or nvidia driver installed and it's looking for the hardware and freaking out if it can't find it. But without logs, I'm really just guessing.

Fan broken on your video card?

Last edited by Buddlespit (2017-12-22 22:38:27)

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#3 2017-12-22 23:07:08

graysky
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From: :wq
Registered: 2008-12-01
Posts: 10,595
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Re: Running a server without a video card?

Does the machine give an audible beep on a successful POST?  I would search continue searching for options in the BIOS to allow continuing without errors or the like but you might be stuck in requiring some video output.  If that is the case, is a $10 video card an option (ebay or whatever)?


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#4 2017-12-23 17:12:39

stefano
Member
Registered: 2011-04-09
Posts: 258

Re: Running a server without a video card?

So I haven't been able to solve the hardware problem---I hear (what I take to be) error beeps during the boot process, but I have no way of interpreting the sound sequence. That is, I do not know whether it means the Bios ignored the missing hardware error (as instructed), or whether it stopped booting. It think the latter is more likely, given the box never shows up on the network even though the green LED shows it is on.

However, I managed to partially solve the temperature issues that prompted me to try to boot the machine w/o a video card. A switch to nvidia drivers from nouveau and a general cleanup of the system (removal of all graphic dependencies, etc.), seems to have brought the situation back under control. I do agree with Graysky, though, that a better option, after the software cleanup, would be been to replace the Nvidia Quadro with a cheap $10 card.

Thanks to everyone.

Stefano

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