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April 6th, 2026 12:39
Unity XT380 stuck in Service Mode (blue/amber alternating every 1 sec) – second-hand unit
Hi,
I have a second-hand Dell Unity XT380 (Service Tag: <To protect you, your private information was removed from public view. All private data was saved to your private Case. DELL-Admin>) with no support contract.
Current issue:
- SP Fault LED on both SPs is alternating blue and amber every ~1 second (Service Mode).
- Able to SSH as service / service on the non-spanner port.
- Ran svc_rescue_state -c then svc_shutdown -r.
- After reboot, admin / Password123# is not accepted.
- NMI button (3 seconds) does not reliably trigger the password reset prompt.
The 5 drives installed are wiped drives with no OS / no previous configuration.
Tried: multiple long power cycles, single-SP test, NMI on both SPs, USB config, and Connection Utility.
Any suggestions on how to force the admin password reset or exit Service Mode on this second-hand XT380F
Thanks in advance!
Anaz
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DELL-Sam L
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April 6th, 2026 20:41
Hello anaz_b,
With the first 5 drives that have been wiped, you have no OS on the system for it to boot. So what you will need to do is ensure that the first 5 drives are EMC certified drives that are found on the support matrix for unity XT 380 listed here. https://dl.dell.com/content/manual41427108-dell-unity-xt-drive-and-oe-compatibility-matrix.pdf?language=en-us
Once you are able to confirm that the drives are EMC certified drives, then you will need the unity connection utility. You need the utility to be able to connect to the system. You will also then need to load the image on each SP so that they can boot correctly, which is not easy if you have never done this before. Also since the system is not in warranty it is not going to be easy to get the image file that is needed to reimage your SP’s.