i tried it on my setup, which is linux mopd and vs3100/m30. i moved the
symlink in /tftpboot/mop/ to point to the new bootloader and saw the
following:

*** start
>>> b esa0


-ESA0
>> NetBSD/vax boot [990228 22:33] <<
: /netbsd
boot: client IP address: 195.89.131.66
boot: client name: fiend
root addr=195.89.131.67 path=/newroot/mnt_vax/root
822036+45628+164848 start 0x8e4
panic: ptelen fault in system space: addr 8 pc 8000f22c
Stopped in  at  0x800c0d29:     movl    $5, r0
db> 
*** end

when i moved the symlink back to the boot.mopformat from the 19981201
snapshot it booted fine.

paul

--
Paul Everett                                 Microsoft is not the answer.
repton at repton dot org                       Microsoft is the question.
http://www.repton.org                                 "No" is the answer.
   "God, root, what is the difference?" - Pitr, www.userfriendly.org