>> It sounds like the video / Radeon changes might be a culprit since
>> that's one area that's changed fairly recently.
>
> Indeed, on my PowerBook G4 (last model), I had to "boot -c" and
> "disable radeonfb", and "disable fwohci" as well.

If Firewire is an issue (or perhaps the issue), then try this kernel, 
which has no Radeon and also has no Firewire:

http://www.ziaspace.com/~john/XSERVE_noradeon_nofw

I'm running NetBSD 4 on a a newer G4 (the one before the mirror drive 
doors) with a Radeon 7000 which is what I believe the Xserve has, and the 
video is fine. It'll be interesting to see what this issue is.

I can't test this on my own Xserve, unfortunately, because it's running OS 
X and is in use full time. Is anyone else running NetBSD on G4 Xserves?

John