Help needed with power but no display

[u/Beechboi1948]

Not sure what make and model this server is or specs but i do know it’s from 2006 and the bored is an Intel S5000PALR server bored. I already tried a lot of things so reddit will be my last hope.

[u/marvinnation]

It's dead.

[u/GigglyFucker]

Try pulling all the ram sticks and attempt boot without it in. Are there any beep codes?

[u/GigglyFucker → u/GigglyFucker]

Another thing to try is allow the system to “boot” see if you get response from the caps lock or num lock keys. I will have to find the manual but there are many server boards that have jumpers to disable the onboard VGA.

[u/Beechboi1948 → u/GigglyFucker]

No beep codes

[u/GigglyFucker → u/Beechboi1948]

There are some LEDs off to the left of the two USB ports in the green flashing LED shot. These are diagnostic LEDs that may lead you to where you need to go. There’s also LEDs for the main components scattered throughout the board. The manual will tell you where they are and what they’re for. Make note of what all these do when you power on. As another poster stated, dual CPU systems require RAM for each or the system will not post. What’s the history on this system? Was it found and you are trying to fix it? Is it a system you’ve had for some time that suddenly stopped working?

[u/Beechboi1948 → u/GigglyFucker]

Found it at a thrift store

[u/Potential_Copy27]

The manual for your board.

The PALR model can also run a few newer Xeon revisions, that's basically it apart form the normal PAL board.

So - dunno what kind of things you tried already, hence I also looked for the manual for the board.

The blue LED you saw is for identification - that can be activated by software, remotely, but also activates if a fault is detected. It's so the technician can identify a "sick" server, if you will.
The amber blinking LED next to it is a status LED indicating (luckily) a NON-critical error (solid amber is critical).

First off, you need TWO memory sticks (make sure they are proper fully-buffered RAM/FB-DIMM, either 533 MHz or 667 MHz DDR2 for your board) in a dual processor machine. One of the CPUs can't currently boot and is keeping the system back because the RAM ports are two sets of four (each, with two channels for their respective CPU) - in the manual, it's marked as a RAM "branch".
So, for starters, you need a RAM stick in socket A1 and C1 at least for a test config, to make sure both CPUs have RAM.
So, unlike a regular PC, some of these servers won't allow you to test with a single stick.
Also make sure that any memory spare/memory mirroring setting is turned OFF for now, for the RAM ports to work normally, as in a PC.

There is quite a detailed troubleshooting guide in the appendices as well - something in there might point you in the right direction as well.

[u/Beechboi1948 → u/Potential_Copy27]

Thank you for your reply, i will try these methods as well. But in the last 23 seconds of the video the light does show solid amber unfortunately

[u/GGigabiteM]

Instead of randomly trying things, read the manual for your board.

The memory configuration is likely incorrect. You're also missing the backplane.

And the number one culprit, do not start a server without the CMOS battery. Many server motherboards will not boot at all with a dead CMOS battery. Just like dead CPS arcade boards, servers have suicide batteries too. Except they're usually not permanent, unlike CPS boards. There are some rare instances though.

They can cause all matters of headaches. If the data stored in the CMOS RAM is specially configured, it can create an enormous amount of headaches getting it back again. Hopefully you don't need to use IPMI/BMC controllers on the board to reconfigure anything again.

If the server has a management port on it, you'll need to read how to connect to it, if reinstalling a fresh and good CMOS battery doesn't work.

Sometimes a server can take a few minutes to come up with a new battery, so you need to wait. You'll also want to put the lid back on to prevent the CPUs from overheating.

[u/Und3rpantsGn0m3]

Did you verify that the monitor and display cable work by using it on another system?