That was an interesting post - thanks for the reference, Bob. Thanks, too, to the other posters who offered their suggestions. It
turns out that one of the other staff members has offered me an old video card to try, and I will go with that for now. The keyboard
is not really an issue.
What I had in mind when I asked the question was some sort of trick. Perhaps one could get an experimenter's PCI card and wire some
connectors together to tell the hardware that a video card is present, or something like that. I knew that it was a long shot.
Maybe some time with Google will give a good long-term solution...
I suspect that the WHS boxes that you get from places like HP have mass-production proprietary motherboards that have some sort of
trick to fake them into thinking that there is a video card present.
My goal is simply to avoid wasting electricity. The server will run in my basement, which is too cool anyway. I think that I can
live with 175 watts if I have to.
Dean
PS: I might add, too, that Windows Home Server software is simply not acceptable in its present form. It is buggy and will not even
work properly with 64 bit Vista! M$ is promising a fix which is undergoing beta testing now and is to be released "in June."
However, anyone who has only a simple small network with no 64 bit operating systems might find it very useful and satisfactory in
its present form. I had a fine older computer (left after a new build) which, with an investment of $149 for the server software
and about $260 for two 640 GB drives, I was able to turn into a nice server. There is, finally, a good book out on the topic,
"Windows Home Server Bible."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Lendrim" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:04 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Running Without a Monitor or keyboard - Windows Home Server
Hi Dean. Interesting project. I've never had a way to measure, but I think video cards vary greatly in their power consumption. I
used to use high end NVidia cards to fly flt simulators in home builts. I had mobos that were difficult to boot, and mobos that
melted capacitors. My unsubstantiated and humble opinion is that these problems were caused by power hungry video cards drawing more
amps than the mobo was designed to provide. Some later video cards had inputs for power cables direct from the power supply. If I
was looking for a card for a home server, I'd look for a card with 32 Megs or less memory that didn't emphasize 3-D gaming. I'd
guess that cards of that type would use minimal power and let you have a monitor available if needed. I'd look for one with passive
cooling without the high-pitched noisy fan running 24/7. I used a Matrox G-450 in a W98 computer for a commercial fishing boat, very
available on Ebay. I couldn't find power consumption spec for it on Matrox' web site. I think drivers are available for most OS.
PS (Still diggin) Here's a site which shows power consumption of video varying from 15 watts for a <32 meg NVidia card to 496 watts
for a recent NVidia card. Think of it like a 15W light bulb vs 5 100W bulbs running all the time. Of course if you live in a cold
climate, the 496 watts and it's necessary fans would help to heat your house :-o)
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354
-----Original Message-----
>From: James Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Apr 21, 2008 6:02 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Running Without a Monitor or keyboard - Windows Home Server
>
>Dean Kukral wrote:
>> I have built a Windows Home Server using an older computer. Once a WHS is set up, it is no longer necessary to have a keyboard,
>> mouse, monitor, etc. connected to the basic box which is accessed via the lan. Since it would be nice to let it run 24/7, as a
>> good
>> citizen, I would like to strip it of everything in order to minimize power usage.
>>
>> I was able to remove the video card, and it started and ran fine after giving a long and three short beeps.
>>
>
>I would leave a video card in the box for the time you have to trouble
>shoot why you can no longer access the box over the wire.
>
>
>--
>Jim
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