Tohru Nishimura,
>
>Your /bin/sh file content seems trashed, or you are using incorrect
>binary (mixing binary which is not compatible with the booting
>kernel).  Corrupted file image symptom is often caused by incorrectly

It all came from the 1.4 installation and binary images...but the CD was
burned by a friend...so perhaps whatever it is, the fault originates 
there.

But, would it ever boot at all if this were the case?

For instance, tonite the 1st attempt to boot failed exactly as it did this
morning, at the 'checking quotas' point in the boot dialog.

Did a reboot to get back to the machine monitor, powered off, then back on
and then did another attempt to boot to multi-user...It came up cleanly 
and has been up for several hours since then, and on the net ftp'ing down
some packages from netbsd.org.

But, and this could be key here...you tell me whether it is or might be or
not...I don't use /bin/sh once its up...I use bash, so after its up I 
launch
X and run bash in the xterms..

That being the case, could the fault be in /bin/sh maybe?  I think I'll 
get
a new image down from the site, and maybe a new kernel image too...since
this friend of mine actually did burn the CD, that could be the source of
all of this...if I just go back to that CD I'd end up right back where I 
am
now...

>used 'ASCII' mode FTP transfer of binary sets, or more
>chaostic/delicate network/hardware fault. 
>
could be...I don't know if his image came from an released CD or if he 
actually ftp'd it all down or not...I'm just not sure.

thanks for the help!
paul