IBM x3650 M2 BIOS suggestions

[Small Timer]

Just bought a refurb x3650 M2. Machine boots, and the keyboard works, to allow me to configure the included RAID card, as well as configure an added LSI RAID card. But the IBM BIOS screens seem to completely ignore any keyboard input, so I'm unable to enter setup mode or change the boot device. Also IMM doesn't seem to be available (not getting any address from my DHCP server, and ARP pings don't see the default IP address).

My guess is that whoever wiped the sever flashed the wrong BIOS to it. I've tried using the jumpers to get the backup BIOS, but that has exactly the same issue.

So, can anyone offer suggestions on the easiest way to refresh the server to get to a working BIOS? Do I need to get a server OS installed from CD, first, then run some utilities? It does seem like it will try to boot from CD, but of course I don't have any boot CDs to use. Is there a minimal Linux distribution that will work to get it booted and run the IBM utilities?

 

[Small Timer]

Forgot I had posted this. I finally got around the problem. First, a different keyboard worked to get me into the setup mode. Not sure why the USB keyboard I was using worked except to get into setup screens. I was able to then update everything to get IMM working and configure the RAID card. Finally I replaced the IBM RAID card, because I was unable to get it flashed to IT mode. Finally I have the server booting FreeBSD and running ZFS using the internal disks.

 

[i386]

First, a different keyboard worked to get me into the setup mode.

Did you use a ps2 keyboard?
Some bios versions have the options to enable/disable usb keyboard/mouse in bios mode. Maybe the previous owner disabled it.