Plugging monitor into headless mini server

I bought a new monitor to place in my colocation. I plugged it into the vga dongle on my Mac Mini server, and it didn't recognize the monitor, so I unplugged the dongle and plugged it back in, and it saw the new monitor. All I got on the display, however, was a grey screen with the mouse pointer. I could get the volume control to display but no other icons or the finder, etc.
Is there a way via the shell (I can ssh in with my iPhone) to reset the display so that it will be recognized as the primary display without rebooting the computer? Rebooting fixed the problem, but I am not a huge fan of rebooting a production server unless I absolutely have to.
The monitor is small (16") and will remain in the rack, and is currently plugged into the Mini, but turned off. I have similar problems with the datacenter crash carts where the monitor won't display unless I unplug the dongle, and I still have to reboot to get control on the monitor.
Thanks for any help!
-Cameron

It really is the little things that **** us off the most.
I recall having this issue a while back, I don't make a habit of plugging in displays, but I understand how frustrating it is to have to reboot.
Have you tried clicking mouse buttons, moving the cursor around, pressing keys? You might also try remoting into the server via VNC/ Remote Desktop/ Screen Sharing and seeing if you get a picture on a remote computer/ iPhone/ iPad (whatever you use to remote in). I'm thinking logging in with remote device will trigger the display physically connected to the Mac Mini. I seem to recall doing that once... Anyway, worth a shot!

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Here's one that may be worth a look:
HP Compaq Smartbuy LA2206xc Black 21.5" 5ms Widescreen Webcam LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 1000:1 (static) / 1000000:1 (dynamic) Built-in Speakers - Newegg.com
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Message was edited by: EZ Jim
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All,
I have a Mac Mini (Server) with two internal drives. I have successfully been running Lion (client) headless (no monitor or keyboard) for some time since I had originally 10.6 installed and upgraded to 10.7 using the Mac App Store. For backup I nightly clone my primary internal drive to the secondary drive using SuperDuper.
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2. Boot from the secondary disk; format the primary disk and do a fresh install on the primary disk. However this doesn't work as once the install is underway and it's re-booted onto the primary disk screen sharing is disabled and so I can't see what's going on.
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(5) Shutting down the server functions (and other open applications) has no effect.
I would greatly appreciate feedback from anyone out there running a Mac Mini with Lion regarding whether or not their monitors go into standby mode when the Display Sleep time is reached (please note whether or not you are running the Server or Client version, whether or not it is a new install or upgrade, and what monitor you are using).
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Hi, I wonder if anyone helped you out. I'm new here so here goes. I just bought a mac mini, but not the server. I had finished my new install and then I rebooted and got a black screen, since i have a wireless Apple keyboard, I cannot log into the computer by using commands, like Command-S. And Yes, you are using the right command, that hasn't changed.
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http://osxdaily.com/2013/09/19/ios-7-battery-life-fix/
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/252326/new_ipad_slow_to_recharge_barely_charges_d uring_use.html
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4060
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http://thehowto.wikidot.com/prolong-battery-lifespan-for-ipad
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Plugging monitor into headless mini server

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