Well, here I am trying this.
I first tried telling the booter to use a kernel that was sitting in the
same directory as the booter itself, still froze.
Then I pulled the Cache Card out, still froze.  In the same spot, right
after resetting the SCSI .

It seems to be after the SCSI is reset.  When it displays the "So I sez to
him... " part, it unmounts my external SyQuest.  No problem there, but as
soon as it is unmounted, is when the thing hangs.

I tried disconnecting the external SCSI entirely, and am still getting the
same results.  This is getting wierd.
I had NetBSD on this machine for a week a few months ago, but didn't have
time to messaround, so I reformatted.

Now tonight, I think I may have found the trouble.  It seems the SCSI
controller must have gone wonky!  The internal drive (either a 420mb or
80mb, whichever is plugged at that time) shows at ID 0 as it should.   But
no matter what I set my external SyQuest to, it shows up on ID 6  Currently
I have the SyQuest set to ID 3, but the IIci sees it as ID 6.  And if I try
adding my Zip drive to the equation, then the SyQuest won't show up at all,
and the ZIp shows on ID 6...even if it's switch is set to 5!!!

So, friends, this looks like it's not simply a software issue.  But time
for a little hardware troubleshoooting.  Joy!

-Jim


>OK,
>
>Both the below sound feasible.
>
>I know I've gotten the thing (IIci)to boot NetBSD with the Cache Card in
>there in the past.  So, removing that'll be attempt number two.
>
>Something about the "boot from file" sound familiar.  So, I shall start
>with that.
>
>Thanks all for your help.  I'll keep posted as to how far I get with it.
>
>-Jim
>
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------
>From: "Erik Winkler"<ewinkler@erols.com>
>Subject: Re: System Freeze on First Boot
>Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 12:21:57 -0400
>
>>Try removing your cache card.  I don't think NetBSD supports it.  My IIci
>has been
>>working fine and the cache card is the only difference between your setup
>and mine.
>>
>>Erik
>>----------------------------------------------
>From: "Frederick Bruckman"<fb@enteract.com>
>Subject: Re: System Freeze on First Boot
>Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 12:06:36 -0500 (CDT)
>
>>>
>>>There have been issues in the past with all the little partitions that
>>>FWB leaves, especially if you've used FWB to move partitions around
>>>after creating them. That bug involved a crash in NetBSD, however,
>>>whereas you're not even able to load the kernel.
>>>
>>>Try copying a kernel to the Booter folder, either a plain kernel
>>>(gzipped OK, but not tarred), or the ramdisk (instdisk) kernel, then
>>>"boot from file", just to see how NetBSD likes the disk once you get
>>>past the Booter. If you try it from a plain kernel (not the ramdisk),
>>>you should check "prompt for root", and then enter sd0a at the prompt,
>>>assuming you get that far.