ASUS ESC4000A-E10 - No BMC LED and no POST without CPU installed?
Hi everyone, I am testing an ASUS ESC4000A-E10 server motherboard on a test bench (that was suggested by AI and is not correct. I have a "full" server without disks, ram, cpu). Currently, there is NO CPU installed in the socket. When I plug in the PSU, the motherboard Standby Power LED turns on immediately. However, the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) LED stays completely off (no blinking, no heartbeat) and I cannot access the web UI. Is it normal for this ASUS AMD EPYC platform to completely halt the BMC boot/power sequencing if the CPU socket is empty? Or should the ASPEED AST2600 chip (BMC) boot up independently regardless of the main CPU? Thanks!
EDIT:
I'll add some further detail:
No sign of life when I press the power buttons (one on the front and another, undocumented, on the rear), no light on the power buttons or the 2 digit start-up progression display (Q-Code), no spinning of the fans.
Psus leds blink green, slowly, I think it means: "we are ok, we are in stand-by, giving 5V to the motherboard (stand-by led on motherboard steady on) waiting for a signal from her to turn on and give 12V"
manual
does not specify if without a cpu the bmc will turn on and give an error.
Tried Google, found almost nothing. Tried AI mode: it allucinates, one time says this is normal without cpu, next time says BMC led should turn on. Most sensible reference he found is this
https://www.asus.com/rs-en/support/faq/1048461/
where Asus says to update BMC firmware install first a cpu.
Please, tell me your opinion.
SOME CONTEXT:
I purchased this on ebay from a reputable professional seller (99.5% positive feedbacks, tens of thousands sold items).
He claims it has been tested and is fully working. I wrote the seller about these symptoms, asking specifically if the cpu was installed. He answered that the listing clearly says no (he's wrong). Till saturday, I can still claim a return, but I really don't want to, if the problem is only the missing cpu. I found a cpu to buy, but it wouldn't arrive for saturday.