Subject: RE: bootstrapping NetBSD_1.0 to current (COMPAT_10)
To: None <keith@mukluk.cc.monash.edu.au>
From: Charles M. Hannum <mycroft@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
List: current-users
Date: 12/03/1994 09:13:09 
   > dies on very first probe, immediate screenblank and return to BIOS boot tests

	   Dies just after the line with the spinning wheels...

This almost certainly means you have a very old boot block installed.