diff --git a/roles/slurm-common/scripts/nvidia-probe.py b/roles/slurm-common/scripts/nvidia-probe.py
index 1a47f11fba85278e9a430a5ab79e37f0af175245..4b3e93e1934b9c6b648381c99b565a52240d4660 100755
--- a/roles/slurm-common/scripts/nvidia-probe.py
+++ b/roles/slurm-common/scripts/nvidia-probe.py
@@ -55,5 +55,7 @@ try:
         output=json.dumps(deviceList)
         print output
 except OSError:
+        output=json.dumps([])
+        print output
 #if nvidia-smi is not installed on computer then this error is thrown by subprocess.Popen
         sys.exit(0)