> One thing that might be of interest was when the system was "quiet" it
> did have an overnight uptime and probably longer if I had let it. It's only
> when I start thrashing the disk with the kernel compile that it goes wacky.
> Might this be a symptom for which I should consider using the SBC kernel?

Well, just so people might know, it turned out to be a defective power supply.
I installed a Snooper board in the unit to monitor it, and noticed a nasty
power drain on the +12V line from the HD, which I guess eventually trashed
the system after rising to a fever pitch. Swapping power supplies with a
known good unit worked and it compiled a kernel all by itself today :-) I'm
letting it thrash some more overnight to make sure no other intermittents
appear.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

-- 
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
 Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser@stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation. -- H. H. Munro ----