I dosbooted the NetBSD 1.6 generic kernel (i386) in single-user mode, noted the
dmesg, fortunately was able to copy /var/run/dmesg.boot to an msdos-formatted
floppy.  I notice an unknown codec on the sound.  I have Gigabyte GA-7DXR
motherboard with onboard sound.  Relevant dmesg lines for the sound part are

eap0 at pci0 dev 14 function 0: Ensoniq CT5880 (rev. 0x03)
eap0: interrupting at irq 5
eap0: unknown (0x00000000) codec; no 3D stereo
audio0 at eap0: full duplex, mmap, independent
midi0 at eap0: AudioPCI MIDI UART

So is there any hope of getting proper sound under NetBSD 1.6?  I haven't
installed NetBSD 1.6, all I have is the generic and installation kernels for
testing purposes to help me decide if NetBSD 1.6 is likely to be runnable.

I have a nonrunnable NetBSD 1.5.2 installed, where the installation kernel was
bootable but the generic kernel snagged at the login point.  I was able to boot
that installation kernel and copy the NetBSD generic kernel dmesg to
msdos-formatted floppy.  That dmesg showed the same problems with the
Ensoniq CT5880 sound.