>> *Why* is this system's initial boot code apparently
>> agreeing to boot from my IDE disk (wd0), then sneakily booting from my
>> SCSI disk (sd0)???

Greywolf <greywolf@starwolf.com> suggests:

> Did you remember to do
> 
> 	cd /usr/mdec
> 	./installboot biosboot.sym /dev/rwd0a

Yes.

> Did you happen to do the hard-coding-the-devices-in-the-kernel
> kind of thing?  That can cause this kind of difficulty.

I had indeed checked for that; my config file suggested I had done no
such thing (and I'm pretty good about havin the running kernel match
the config file!), but my showing that I could boot sd0e, and showing
also that using the generic kernel made no difference, was intended to
demonstrate (first to myself, then to you all) that the kernel did not
have the boot device hardcoded.

> You should also be able to specify:
> 
> boot wd0a:netbsd -sa
> 
> and have the kernel ask you for your boot device.  This should work.

I will try that this evening for the sake of completeness, but I think
that Manuel has hit on the answer by suggesting that my BIOS is at
fault...

Anne.
-- 
Ms. Anne Bennett, Senior Analyst, IITS, Concordia University, Montreal H3G 1M8
anne@alcor.concordia.ca                                        +1 514 848-7606