Comment 25 for bug 1001842

I was able to work around this problem by using the xorg.conf option "CustomEDID". The goal is to essentially tell the system to pretend that your particular model of monitor/TV is always connected to the port in question.

First, run this to determine the name of the video port in question:
xrandr -d :0 --auto

Then, generate an edid file with the 'get-edid' utility. You can pipe the output into the edid-decode utility to see it, and eventually output it to a file (I used /root/edid.bin).

Then add something like this to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf, inside the "Device" section:
    Option "UseHotplugEvents" "False"
    Option "ConnectedMonitor" "HDMI-0"
    Option "UseDisplayDevice" "HDMI-0"
    Option "CustomEDID" "HDMI-0:/root/edid.bin"

Where HDMI-0 is the video port name you got from xrandr.

If you don't already have an xorg.conf file, you'll need to make one somehow. The "nvidia-xconfig" executable worked for me, but I'm sure it will vary depending on the video card and driver in question.

WARNING: I've read that using the CustomEDID option with an incorrect edid file (such as one for the wrong monitor or a different port) can cause hardware damage!