Hi:

Machine Type:  IIcx, 20MB RAM
Version of NetBSD: 1.3 release

I've got a IIcx running headless, with a serial console on tty01.  The
serial line is sometimes (but not always) connected to my Powerbook.  Most
of the time when the serial line *is* connected, I run a ppp connection to
the Powerbook.  The IIcx has a modem on tty00, and does IP-NAT for the
Powerbook.

Unfortunately, sometimes when the Powerbook isn't connected, the IIcx
chokes.  As near as I can tell without hooking something up to it, all
activity on the IIcx stops.  When I then re-connect the Powerbook, it looks
to me like getty (or something similar) has dropped into the debugger (I
get a db> prompt).  Typing "c" at the db> prompt seems to continue
whatever-it-is that's hung, and the machine goes on its merry way.  (Note
-- when this happens, it seems to lose clock time from roughly the point at
which I disconnected the Powerbook.  If I unplugged it at 8:40 AM, say, the
clock time will still be at about 8:40 AM when I restart it -- which makes
me think the whole machine is waiting for the crashed process to come back
from the debbuger).

This isn't the desired behavior.  I haven't been able to figure out under
what conditions the halt occurs (I've tried leaving various users logged in
on that line, having no one logged in, leaving it running a shell script
which repeats a sleep over and over... none of these help consistently).

Any ideas on what I can do to stop this?  What further information should I
provide?

Thanks in advance for any hints,

Dirk
dirkm@teleport.com