can computer boot without a vid card?

robble

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 6, 2004
Messages
6,493
Not sure where this should be posted so I stuck it here.

I've sold my vid card and my new one isn't here yet. I'll be shipping the vid card tomorrow.

Can I boot the system in my sig without a video card installed? If I can I will RDP into it using my netbook just for file/music access.

Thanks for the [H] help!
 
depends on the motherboard. id say most consumer boards...no, but i could be wrong.
 
if it has integrated graphics sure, if it doesn't it's probably going to beep that there is no video card installed.
 
Will probably beep, but if not, and you are using a UNIX/Linux distro, it will just act on the terminal CLI and you should be able to telnet or SSH in.

What OS are you using?
 
heres one thing you can try. while you stll have a video card, go into bios and disable halt on errors.
now, remove the card and boot the computer. if the debug LEDs on the mobo start showing the temp, then your good save OS restrictions.

if it shows anything else, and never moves past that, then your sunk, and attempting to connect to shares or RDP is futile. there is a chance that the motherboard will show the no vga error code, but then move on but not for sure.
 
You may need to blindly hit enter a couple times, but when investigating this we found that most BIOSes, even those that weren't attached to VGA hardware, emulated the bare minimum VGA set. There are some weird side effects, but you should be able to boot up without issue. Win8 enables true headless support, so in the future BIOS/EFI vendors may no longer emulate this. If you find a system that's like that with the Win8 developer preview, please tell me, as I'd love to give it a spin! :)
 
Both of my motherboards boot into WIn7 without a video card. One of them complains with beeps, but continues.
 
heres one thing you can try. while you stll have a video card, go into bios and disable halt on errors.


Thanks, this is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I'll be giving it a try.
 
I think most motherboards include a sort of graphics processing unit, so I"m sure that the monitor will display whatever that needs to be displayed. If it doesnt, there's plenty of cheap PCIe video cards in the FS forum
 
I think most motherboards include a sort of graphics processing unit, so I"m sure that the monitor will display whatever that needs to be displayed. If it doesnt, there's plenty of cheap PCIe video cards in the FS forum

Some motherboards don't even have a display out and not all have an igp.
 
2nd easiest solution..

Install team view on said computer and just about any other device.
Setup the any time access password or add it to list of your PCs
Turn it on

If it signs into Teamview, your golden, and no video needed to continue use.
 
I would wait out for a definitive answer from samuelmorris. He should be posting a diagram soon that gives a list of video cards, and number listed next to them showing you just how well they will boot without being installed on a motherboard.
 
Um, you should simply hear the windows start-up sound if it works ...
 
I would wait out for a definitive answer from samuelmorris. He should be posting a diagram soon that gives a list of video cards, and number listed next to them showing you just how well they will boot without being installed on a motherboard.

A video card booting without a motherboard... That'll be the day.
 
A video card booting without a motherboard... That'll be the day.

Did you even read the thread?
The point was to boot a mobo without a graphics card, which I honestly do no believe is possible.

Not to boot a graphics card without a mobo. :rolleyes:
 
Did you even read the thread?
The point was to boot a mobo without a graphics card, which I honestly do no believe is possible.

Not to boot a graphics card without a mobo. :rolleyes:

I did read the thread, and I agree with you I do not think it's possible.

But did you read what I quoted? I don't know if he is joking, mis-typed, or my reading comprehension skills are horrible, but I thought I'd comment on it.
 
I did read the thread, and I agree with you I do not think it's possible.

But did you read what I quoted? I don't know if he is joking, mis-typed, or my reading comprehension skills are horrible, but I thought I'd comment on it.

I think he was talking about which mobos would boot, otherwise you're right, that wouldn't make much sense.

Why boot a graphics card without a mobo, lol, there's no point!
 
I would wait out for a definitive answer from samuelmorris. He should be posting a diagram soon that gives a list of video cards, and number listed next to them showing you just how well they will boot without being installed on a motherboard.

Any system builder should know this. If you don't have a video card in the system there will be long beep coming from the speakers telling the builder there's no video.
 
Yes you can boot a computer without a graphics adaptor (built-in or otherwise). Just make sure you have set the bios to ignore display warnings.

So much bitching around, this place is starting to slide...
 
Yes you can boot a computer without a graphics adaptor (built-in or otherwise). Just make sure you have set the bios to ignore display warnings.


+1

my old a64 asus a8n 32 sli deluxe mobo in the basement runs without a video card 24/7 as a file sharing/ torrent box. i access remotely with radmin. all i had to do was set the bios to not hault on errors
 
I don't understand how after people post "yes, I've done it, yes I'm doing it now" then other people post that it's unquestionably impossible. It depends on the mainboard.
 
Last edited:
sadly, i've been hunting around in my bios and haven't found an ignore errors option. when i try booting without the card it stops on the video test. (leds on mobo tell me codes)
 
I don't understand how after people post "yes, I've done it, yes I'm doing it now" that other people post that it's unquestionably impossible. It depends on the mainboard.

And, as I said earlier, if you find one that doesn't boot, try the win8 developer preview (and tell me so I can get it in our lab! :) )

Fact is, though, I tried a bunch of different systems we had around here and couldn't find one that was truly without INT10 minimal capabilities.

`
 
Some do and some don't. But I think for most of the that will boot, you have to disable the error message in the BIOS.
 
And, as I said earlier, if you find one that doesn't boot, try the win8 developer preview (and tell me so I can get it in our lab! :) )

Ahh, some people are thinking about the BIOS POST hanging with no video card, and some are thinking about Windows hanging during start-up.
 
Yes you can boot a computer without a graphics adaptor (built-in or otherwise). Just make sure you have set the bios to ignore display warnings.

So much bitching around, this place is starting to slide...

You are absolutely correct, guess I didn't think of it because of working with so many low-end mobos with limited BIOS.

If your BIOS supports this feature, then yes, you can boot without graphics and can remote in, depending on the OS.
 
EUREKA!!!

I found the ignore erros optionburied in the bios and BOOM! it is now running without video card and I am able to RDP into it!

*happy dance*
 
So I can say without a doubt it is possible with a EVGA e655 SLI motherboard to do it.
 
Back
Top