Greetings...

I've been trying to re-install on my SE/30 after upgrading the hard drive.  I'd been using the traditional method, because my first attempt at sysinst last year didn't work (for a reason I've forgotten), and I've stuck with traditional since.  

This time I've had problems with the installer bailing out before making it through the base set.  It repeatedly died right after libcrypt.  I could boot single-user, but some commands were missing, and many would give me a "bad syntax, expected '('" error.  I decided to give sysinst another go, thinking it might be more robust.  It also lets me mount /var during install, which is nice.

I've already partitioned, so I just recreate the filesystems.  From the default sets to install, I skip misc and games.  I watch the kernel, base, and etc sets install, so it ought to be workable after that.  When it gets to xfont, it dumps.  I think, fine, I'll just log in and untar the rest from the command line.

During boot, I get a warning that /dev/console does not exist.  I don't know how that can be, since the message displayed to the console.  Then I get a long series of messages like "chgrp not found, chgrp not found, chown not found".  (I assume it's trying to create missing devices.)  It finally does give me a single-user logon, and indeed chgrp and chown are missing.  I mount the filesystems, untar the base set, and confirm those commands are present.  

When I reboot, I get the same problem again.  During the "chgrp not found" part I shut down, as I had to get to work.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?  What might I try next?  My thought is to try a minimal install.

SE/30, 80MB, 9GB Seagate, Asante NIC, System 7.1, Phillips Omniwriter, NetBSD 1.6.

Thanks,
Tim

-- 
Tim Larson     <><   <><   <><   <><   <><     OL 4-131-2
Info. Services - Int. Med. Clin. Systems, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. - John F. Kennedy
I apologize for the irregular wrapping and quoting.  I use MS Outlook.