Thanks, Mark, but, unfortunately, the BIOS do not permit disabling the monitor.  I am not really concerned about the keyboard, as it 
uses negligible power I am sure, but using a usb keyboard is a good idea.  I have no old video cards that would fit in a PCI slot; 
they have long since been given away or discarded.  Of course, I can always buy a new card, but I suspect that the cost would pay 
for quite a bit of electricity.

I have discovered, using the APC unit with a wattmeter built in, that this server uses about 260 watts (not doing any work).  When 
the monitor goes into sleep state, that goes down to about 185 watts.  If I turn off the monitor, it only uses about 177 watts.  The 
screen saver with a black screen only saves a few watts.  (Note that the video card that I have is 256 MB PCI Express.)

Dean Kukral


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Rode" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 9:46 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Running Without a Monitor or keyboard - Windows Home Server


>1.  Does anyone know if there is a way to run the computer without a
>video card?

Sure, first try to disable the video card  in the BIOS, there is
often a setting for this.

>I guess the same question will occur for the keyboard,

Just remove the startup check in the BIOS, so it  POSTs
without  checking for anything.

>2.  If the monitor is unplugged and the screen saver is on, set to
>black, does the video card use much power?

no, not an old AGP or PCI card with less then 16 megs of RAM. Your
watt meter will let you know exactly how much, but I bet it is insignificant.

However, I would install an old video card, and use a USB keyboard
and mouse.  You can unplug the monitor, mouse and keyboard once you
are up and running.... and then plug them back in without a reboot if
you need them. If, or should I write when, you have a problem, it
will be really nice to have some kind of video, mouse and keyboard support.

Mark Rode
The Nospin Group

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                        Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>