Xserve3,1 Not booting Issue

[John3432]

I’m troubleshooting an Apple Xserve3,1 it powers on but won’t fully boot or initialize any peripherals.

• Bought this Amazon Basics Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Cable for MacBook Air/Pro, 1080p, Gold-Plated Plugs, 6 Foot, Black i pluged it into my Xserve and used a known working capture card and a tv and no display out.
• System powers on (fans spin, LEDs active)
• Logic board status LEDs are lit (CPU, memory, IOH all show power)
• POST code LEDs light up but appear stuck (no progression)
• No video output at all
  • USB ports provide power (external drive LED turns on), but:
  • keyboards (including Apple Magic Keyboard) do not respond
    no USB initialization (no keyboard lights)
• Ram, I tested it with all the crucial RAM, and the Samsung RAM individually did not work
• Only Samsung sticks (2 identical)
• mixed brands (Crucial + Samsung)
• multiple slot combinations (A1/A2, etc.)
• Verified system powers consistently and shows same behavior
• Confirmed USB ports are providing power (external drive powers on)
• Observed POST LEDs remain stuck (no change during boot attempt)
• System appears to be failing during early POST (likely before USB initialization)
  
  
  
  
  

 

[willowthewisp]

Do a NVRAM reset via front panel or logicboard button and a smc reset via the button on the logic board !
Are the HDD bays unlocked ? The front usb port is NOT working while the bays are locked !

 

[geerlingguy]

I'm working on a similar Xserve (I have the 2.0 QC version with two CPUs): https://github.com/geerlingguy/retro-computers/issues/43

I've had a heck of a time getting everything going, but the two biggest gotchas:

1. My power supply would start the early boot (fans ramp up, then it starts flashing different EFI post codes), but it seems like when the CPUs initialized, the system would behave funny then die (the red RAM slot LEDs would all turn on and flicker a bit, which led me to believe it was a power issue). I am lucky to have a spare PSU, so I swapped that in, and it's working now. You can find these on eBay for $30-50.

2. RAM... apparently the DDR2 sticks in these things are finicky. Enough so the service manual calls out memory issues multiple times. I re-seated my sticks of RAM like 8 times, and then finally swapped in a couple spares I had bought on eBay earlier this year. Sometimes I'd get a grey screen with output. Sometimes a weird POST code in the LEDs and no display output. But finally with the new OWC RAM sticks in, it seems to be booting stably. At least twice so far, lol. Doing a 10.6 Server install from USB stick now.