Hi

First off i'd like to apologize that i haven't read the mail list archives prior to posting this, so i don't know if someone has had a similar problem and a thread with a solution.

Anyhoo, I'm trying to install NetBSD on my ol' 386 computer and so I made the bootdisks as the documentation instructs. However, when the systems boots up and reads the floppy, it immediately reboots. There are no error messages, so I have no idea what's wrong. I get a similar problem when trying to boot Linux bootdisks too. Funny thing is that Windows95 runs just fine currently and I used to run Linux on it (on an IDE harddisk though).

I tested to see if the floppy was corrupt by using two different diskettes, but the same problem occured. I also tested if the floppy drive is broken by reading a few disks, and the floppy drive does work.

Well, here are the hardware specs for my 386:
- AMD 386DX/DXL 40MHz
- PC-CHIPS M321 Motherboard AMI BIOS built-in ISSI 64kByte Cache
- 32mBytes RAM, 8 banks @ 4mBytes/bank, 30-Pin SIMMs
- Adaptec AHA-1520 SCSI Controller
- Quantum Trailblazer TRB-850S (850mBytes, SCSI)
- Trident 8900 32bit BUS 1024kBytes VGA adapter
- 3Com EtherLink III 3c509 ISA RJ-45 NIC
- Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 CT2290
- NEC 1.2mByte 5.1/4” floppy drive
- Generic 1.44mByte 3.25” floppy drive
- Sanyo CRD-254S Quadspeed, SCSI
- Zoom Telephonics 14.4kps v.32 modem/faxmodem
- Precision Serial & Parallel I/O Controller UART Chips: 8250 & 16550AF

I appreciate any help Thanks.
-Noji

Try to download an iso image frmo linuxiso.org and see if you can boot off of that one instead.

// Gdd

I can boot it just fine if i use my Athlon system, it's the 386 that's having problems booting

-Noji

Hmm, have you tried upgrading your bios?
Are the boot settings correct in the bios?
And have you tried with an IDE cdrom on your 386?
Have you tried removing your 5.1/4" diskdrive and replacing it with your 3.5" and making the bios settings according to that?
Hehe, maybe something will work? =)

Regards,
Gdd

Ah, odd problem... my Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16 CT2990 was causing problems. I took it out and everything works fine. My guess is that the problem occured because the CT2990 model has built-in IDE... or maybe there was IRQ/DMA conflict? Well, the card was replaced by an OPTi931 sound card and all is well.

Thanks for your concerns

-Noji