RE: i386 mbr problem, again

["Steve Shockley" <steve.shockley@shockley.net>]

> i don't know if this is the same problem you're refering to, 
> but i've used the latest snapshot floppy28.fs, snapshot 
> binaries and a 'fresh' disk (ie never had bsd on it before) 
> and it cannot create a bootable system. this is irrespective 
> of the choice of whether to use the whole disk on not, and, 
> as you mentioned, cannot be bypassed by trying to boot from 
> the floppy and from there wd0. assuming this was an corrupt 
> mbr issue, i tried booting various dos utils and 
> disk/formatting from there, then tried again. same problem. 
> then a different hard drive. same problem. this is a crappy 
> old piece of compaq hardware, but i have two others booting 
> happily into OBSD 
> elsewhere.

What kind of crappy Compaq hardware is it?  What's it do when you try to
boot?  Can you provide a dmesg?  Presumably you can boot to a floppy
shell.