No Monitor, Precision Rack 7910

I have a video problem involving the Precision Rack 7910.

• We have five of these computers that will be installed in a remote data center so that means that local access will be extremely limited.

• The software that we will be using (Wirecast) requires the use of the video card (Nvidia Quadro NVS 510) processing power in order to operate.

• The data center has “crash-carts” that provide temporary, emergency access via the 7910’s front panel VGA and USB connectors.

• We would like to be able to make use of the iDRAC cards in the computers.

Here’s the problem. If there are no monitors connected to the GPU at power on, the BIOS assumes that you won’t be using the card so it is not available for the OS/Wirecast software.  If you disable the embedded video controller in BIOS the Nvidia GPU becomes available even if no monitors are connected.  Unfortunately that means that the front panel VGA connector is unavailable and the Virtual Console Viewer from the iDRAC is blank.

Our current work-around is to connect a KVM to one of the mDP ports on the Nvidia GPU card. This satisfies the need for a monitor connection and allows both the GPU and embedded VGA to operate.  This solution requires additional rack space and more cables cluttering up the inside of the server cabinet.

Is there some sort of configuration item or script that could be run that would activate the GPU without any monitors (or KVM) attached? Or maybe some other way, some sort of plug to trick the card into thinking that there is a monitor attached?

Natassia