>But now I've got one I can't figure out.   The kernel boots, but after
   >seven or eight commands, regardless of what they are, the system freezes.
   >No warning, no panic, no coredump, no log messages, no nothing.  Just
   >stops!

I wonder if it froze even if you were using "dt"(desktop).  

As long as I know, if a keyboard event happens while scrolling, the
system freezes.  To avoid this, you can:
  1) use the "dt" application, or
  2) login via serial port.

The latest version of dt is, Valtteri (vuori@sci.fi) wrote,

  > Message-Id: <199507261611.TAA22755@sci.fi>
  > Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 19:11:05 +0300 (EET DST)
  >
  > dt 1.1.1 is now available from
  > puma.bevd.blacksburg.va.us:/pub/NetBSD/utils/dt.

Hope this helps.
				-- Haru Mizuno (Warabi-shi, Japan)
				   an owner of SE/30 (8Meg of Memory)