This paper addresses the existence of solutions u ∈ H1(ℝ+;ℝN) of ODE systems
, with boundary condition u1(0) = ξ, where u1 is a (vector) component of u. Under general conditions, the problem corresponds to a functional equation involving a Fredholm operator with calculable index, which is proper on the closed bounded subsets of H1(ℝ+;ℝN). When the index is 0 and the solutions are bounded a priori, the existence follows from an available degree theory for such operators. Specific conditions are given that guarantee the existence of a priori bounds and second order equations with Dirichlet, Neumann or initial value conditions are discussed as applications.