Boot 9.10 without monitor connected

[wawacito]

I am having same problem. I cannot boot without a monitor. The PC completely freezes because when i hit caps lock or number lock no lights turn on and when i plug the monitor up after that i get nothing but a black screen. I have to shut it down hard (hold down the power button) and then power back up.

I think its after the grub selection. When I shut it down hard - the next time it boots it goes into this menu "kernel ... something or other" is the first choice. "kernel ... something + safe mode" is the second choice. The third and fourth choices are memory tests. (i can see this because i reattached the monitor).

So then i do another hard shutdown. Pull the monitor cable. Then I power back up. I see the hard drive flashing flashing ... and then stop. I'm (blindly) guessing that its at the Grub selection menu again. So I hit enter. Sure enough the hard drive light goes flashing flashing ... then stops. At that point I'm frozen again (no caps lock or number lock and black screen when i reconnect the monitor).


I tried the xorg.conf thing. Didn't work.

I'm trying to do this last suggestion by marleaux. Someone please help me.

I go "cd /etc/default/grub" it says "no such directory"
So I go "cd /etc/default/" apparently "grub" is a file.
I go "sudo pico grub" and i see a file open up.
i find the line that says "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT".
The full line reads:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "quiet splash"
I put a # in front of that line.
Then i enter
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "i915.modest=0"

tried reboot with no monitor - same thing. Frozen.

my computer is a IBM thinkcentre S50 8183-GNU and it has intel integrated video. I went to Lenovo website and obtained latest BIOS update. There is no option in the BIOS for "halt on" anything. I am running 9.10 Karmic.

Somebody please help?
And when providing a solution please be more specific. When marleaux wrote "And I added xrandr settings to /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45custom_xrandr-settings" i thought ... "i dont have a 45custom_xrandr-settings" file in that directory and even if i did i don't know how to "add xrandr settings".

[wawacito]

more details. The same problem happens to me with Ubuntu 9.04. I just reloaded the system with ubuntu 9.04 - same thing. What could be wrong?

[jeffas]

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem, but I had this when trying to boot with just an HDMI TV connected. It needed either a VGA or DVI monitor connected.
http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8693251
The solution that worked for me was removing the 'splash' option from the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line; but it seems you did that anyway.
You did run update-grub didn't you? (As described at the top of /etc/default/grub.)

[kc9fgq]

I found that it works if you open /etc/default/grub and edit the line that says:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "quiet splash"

to say:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "quiet"

I am running 9.10 on an Intel Atom as a file and web server, so I want to be able to tuck this computer away in a closet with only power and network running to it, now it starts perfectly without a monitor attached.

[jasa66]

Any news here?

I have same problem with 9.10 - won't boot up without display. Yesterday I upgraded to 9.10 and once again this headless boot-up problem occurred. I got workaround for 9.04 with VESA driver trick, but now I have used all tricks I have read here.

I have MSI mainboard with integrated graphics card and most likely I have Intel chipset, but earlier mentioned trick did not work for me.

GRUB 2 upgraded and tricks done also there - no cure.

With display no problems to boot up, but without - always stuck and cannot connect to VNC, putty or other way. Long press of power button is only way to get out.

these are already used:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "quiet"
915.modest=0 to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub

Next tip - please?

--JaSa

[g.p.1985]

Re: Boot 9.10 without monitor connected
I found that it works if you open /etc/default/grub and edit the line that says:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "quiet splash"

to say:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT = "quiet"

I am running 9.10 on an Intel Atom as a file and web server, so I want to be able to tuck this computer away in a closet with only power and network running to it, now it starts perfectly without a monitor attached.


I have a PC with Intel Atom I followed your instructions but when I do sudo update-grub gives me this error

/ Etc / default / grub: 9: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT: not found

What can be wrong?


someone help me thanks

[Tass]

I've got the same problem in 10.04 Beta 2. It wasn't an issue in 9.04. I know the PC boots up & Ubuntu starts loading because I can ping it after about 20 second - I can't VNC or Remote Desktop.

I will try the various suggestions here and post my progress.

[webaake]

There's a typo above with kernel line! It should be i915.modeset=0.

[Gh0styuk]

I have tryed all of the tips in this topic, The only thing i got stuck on is the 45 custom thing not sure how to do that.

Regards
Gh0sty

[webaake]

I've now tried the modeset hack to the kernel line and the xrandr in xession.d but to no avail. Seems that there's no way to boot a really headless server into X without a monitor connected, with linux and intel 945g/gma950 graphics. Earlier hacks in xorg.conf "option NoDDC" and the like aren't working either. Whata bummer!