> It then
> asks for a shell (I respond by hitting return), next it asks for the
> terminal type (I respond with VT100).  I am then left in single user mode,
> superuser prompt (#) with a read only file system.  I am able, at this
> point, to move around the file system and list various files.  This lasts
> for a little while and ends up with a constantly scrolling #  # on the
> screen (I think I saw this mentioned in discussion here) at which point I
> reach around the back and reboot.  If I try and mount the file system
> read/write with the mount command I get a response "No /etc/fstab".  When I
> try and go to multi-user mode (control-d return), I get paragraphs of text
> that start with "Welcome to NetBSD....".  It appears to be trying to
> execute some commands, but they are apparently failing and this process
> continues to loop (until control-c).
> 
To mount the filesystem r/w:
    1) use the installer to copy out /etc/fstab.sd, e.g.
         cpout /etc/fstab.sd fstab

    2) use a word processor to edit fstab. 

/dev/sd0a	/	ufs	rw 1 1
/dev/sd0b	none	swap	sw 0 0
#/dev/sd0g	/usr	ufs	rw 1 2
kern		/kern	kernfs	rw 0 0
proc		/proc	procfs	rw 0 0

    3) Change /dev/sd0a and /dev/sd0b to the device indicated
during bootup.  Probably sd1 for you if it is the second device
detected during boot.  So your new fstab should look like:

/dev/sd1a	/	ufs	rw 1 1
/dev/sd1b	none	swap	sw 0 0
#/dev/sd0g	/usr	ufs	rw 1 2
kern		/kern	kernfs	rw 0 0
proc		/proc	procfs	rw 0 0

(since there are no carriage returns, it may look like all
these lines are on one line just make the changes anyway
and save it as text only)
sd0 is the first device detected, sd1 is the second, etc.
    4) use the installer again to copy fstab back in, e.g.
         cpin fstab /etc/fstab
    5) When you get to the shell prompt, try:
         mount -u
       or try:
         mount -u /dev/sd1a /
    6) Type mount to see if it still says the filesystem
is read-only.

You should now have a r/w filesystem.

--Dave

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