GA-Z68AP-D3 wont boot headless, endless power cycle

[virtuallythere]

Cannot seem to get the machine to boot headless (w/o monitor connected), box cycles every 20 seconds or so. No POST beeps.
Contacted support asking if there was a specific setting in the bios that would control this.
"Bios is plug n play, No setting.  Verify all hardware installed correctly" was the answer I received.
Any pointers, hints, solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Having gone through two operating systems now, attempting to debug the issue I've come to the conclusion it is not the operating system.
CenOS 6.0 (wont boot without monitor)
VMWare ESXi 5.0 (wont boot without monitor)


This is intended to be a VM development bed, as such it has no additional cards. Simply motherboard utilizing onboard graphics card, Sata 2tb, cdrom, 16GB Ram, i5 proc, 500w PS

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Model Name : GA-Z68AP-D3(rev. 1.0)
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M/B Rev : 1.0
BIOS Ver : F4
Serial No. : SN114200024866
Purchase Dealer : Micro Center
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VGA Brand : GIGABYTE (onboard)      Model :
CPU Brand : Intel      Model : CI5 2500K      Speed :
Operation System : Linux      SP :
Memory Brand :       Type :
Memory Size :       Speed :
Power Supply : W

[Fatman]

Have you tried resetting the bios the load optimised default? Check in the bios and make sure your ram voltages are correct and also that the machine is set for onboard graphics aswell
Did you put this machine together yourself. Try all connections and make sure they are all seated home firmly. Do you know someone with a stronger power supply? It could be that?

[virtuallythere]

Thank you for your quick reply

Have you tried resetting the bios the load optimised default? Check in the bios and make sure your ram voltages are correct and also that the machine is set for onboard graphics aswell

optimised settings had no effect. tried that before posting.
bios has Auto set for all voltages. I will go back into the box after posting this to verify voltage settings.
Advanced Bios Features => Init Display First (changed from Auto to Onboard) - no effect
Advanced Bios Features => Onboard VGA (changed from Auto to Alwas Enable - no effect

Did you put this machine together yourself. Try all connections and make sure they are all seated home firmly. Do you know someone with a stronger power supply? It could be that?

I did put the machine together myself. All the connections have been verified by a service center as part of the purchase. It was only after this checkup that I found that the system would not boot headless.

Please note that the system has an operating system on it now, VMWare ESXi 5.0. As long as the monitor is connected I can get the OS up.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but even that would fail if (a) ram voltages were incorrect and / or (b) power supply were insufficient?

[Dark Mantis]

The inclusion of a monitor should have no bearing at all on the power supply requirements or the memory .  I would suggest trying it with a Windows OS installed, not that it should make any difference but just that you are likely to get more help as people are more used to that OS than what you are currently trying to use.

I can't think why it should not boot ok without a monitor attached as I am sure mine does, or at least with them switched off.

Perhaps if you could give us a complete list of your hardware we could get somewhere a little bit closer.

[teknology9]

Hi,

Do your H/W specifications match this...see link below:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003661


Teknology9