Hello Vicky,

   VS> Perhaps it wants the NetBSD /dev device file? As in
     > /dev/cd0a or equivalent?

I tried that.  Oddly when I type "boot cdrom" at the firmware's 'ok'
prompt, it says 'Booting from: sd(0,0,0)cdrom'.  This is odd because
the CD-ROM drive is at ID 6.  Perhaps this 'Secondary Boot' program is
really coming from the hard disk?

Looking on another machine, I think the program I'm seeing may be
from...
               /usr/src/sys/arch/sparc/stand/boot/boot.cf

           ...but looking at the source doesn't give me much of a clue.
It occurs to me that if the old CD-ROM drive doesn't like CD-Rs, then
even if I hit the right incantation by pure chance, it probably would
still not boot.  I don't know enough to try netbooting it, but I may
try a different CD-ROM drive to see if that helps.

Thanks,
   - Andy Ball.