Re: Can not boot without monitor attached

> On Apr 7, 2023, at 3:32 AM, Andreas Kusalananda Kähäri <andreas.kahari@abc.se> wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Apr 07, 2023 at 11:40:47AM +0200, Kusalananda Kähäri wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I'm trying to set up a headless FreeBSD 13.1 system.  I've done so
>> successfully before on this particular machine, but for whatever reason,
>> after a complete reinstall, it doesn't want to boot without a monitor
>> attached via HDMI.  Since it never shows up on the network I'm assuming
>> it never even gets past the boot prompt.
>> 
>> If I plug in a HDMI cable to a monitor before booting, it boots as
>> expected.  Plugging in a monitor after unsuccessfully trying to boot
>> without a monitor does not work (black display).
>> 
>> I tried adding -P to /boot.config, but this had no effect.  The system
>> is, apart from that, fairly vanilla.
>> 
>> The system is a fan-less Chinese(?) "Basoaro" system with an American
>> Megatrends BIOS, but I can't find anything in the BIOS that seems
>> relevant, and since it *used* to be possible to boot the system without
>> an attached monitor, I'm assuming it's not a BIOS-related issue.
>> 
>> Whatever I did before to get it to boot headless, I've forgotten what it
>> was and need a reminder and/or pointers from you guys.
>> 
> 
> I believe my issue might have been solved by simply setting
> 
> 	console="efi"
> 
> ... in /boot/loader.conf
> 
> This seems to not block the boot process when there's no attached video
> or serial console.
> 
> I was initially afraid of setting a value to this setting as I didn't
> want to get locked out completely with no way of accessing the system,
> but I don't know whether that's even a possible risk.


I will say that, in the past, when dealing with MacOS and working at a dentist’s office, where our software providers needed to log in via remote desktop and the like, or VNC, our consultants needed us to buy a cheap hdmi dummy console plug.   We left it connected all the time and it, made our system think there was a monitor there when there wasn’t (and supported/assumed some nominal display size).

If you don’t find another option in the bios/uefi configs/loader.conf, this is always one.