Xserve display problems during installation I've had to reinstalled OS X Server on 2 Xserve machines. The first went fine. See this link for some background.

When I went to the second machine, everything seemed to go OK. As it takes 30 minutes or so for the installation to copy and install files, I got that far and went out to run a few errands while it finished. When I got back, the display had gone black.

I have a mini DisplayPort cable from the server to an iMac. Pressing Command ⌘+F2 switches between the iMac's display and the attached server.  

This worked fine all the way through the reinstallation on the 1st server and fine with the second until I got back from my errands. I've also tested the iMac with the first server; it works fine, so no problem with the iMac or switching it to show the display of another machine.

Having just done the install, but not the setup, yikes! What do I do now? The machine hasn't shown up on the network yet, I may have not connected to the network yet.

Should I just shut it down and restart it?

Can I do a controlled shut down from the attached keyboard with some key sequence or combination (again with now view of what's going on)?

Seems like I have either:


a mini DisplayPort cable that suddenly went bad; 
a mini DisplayPort on the Xserve that suddenly went bad;
or some kind a controller glitch or failure.


I can only get to the mini DisplayPort cable if I shut down the servers and roll out their cabinet (I have well ventilated but tight quarters).

Seems like I have to restart. Will I need to re-reinstall?

Any thoughts on the best way to do this appreciated.
The solution to this problem required reinstalling the operating system. It worked seamlessly the second time around.