Hey , here's a little trick that worked ...
I booted into NetBSD install until I reached the
sysinst menu. Then did a "Reboot the computer" thru'
the menu.
This time around, the CD drive gets detected ! And
this repeats itself consistently, detection on the
second try. Can't say why, tho... I'm not complaining.

Thanks a lot for the pointers. 
Relieved, 
Kumar
--- Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU> wrote:
>     Date:        Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:52:07 -0800
> (PST)
>     From:        Krishna Ramanathan
> <kumar_ramanathan@yahoo.com>
>     Message-ID: 
> <20031110085207.25857.qmail@web10806.mail.yahoo.com>
> 
>   | Nope, no such luck. I tried all combinations of
>   | directories and cd drive names, no luck. I even
> looked
>   | thru' the dmesg, to see if my cdrom drive
> (Samsung CD
>   | R/W SW-252 B ) is detected. I can't, however see
> any
>   | message saying my CDROM drive was detected.
> 
> Then that's going to be the problem, if dmesg says
> nothing about it,
> to NetBSD it isn't there.
> 
> Check the master/slave jumpers - if it is the only
> device on an IDE cable
> it needs to be jumpered as a master (and be
> connected to the plug at the
> end of the cable).   Many CD type devices come
> jumpered by default as
> a slave (or have no jumper on the drive at all).
> 
>   | What is the /dev/ entry I
>   | should use, to mount my cdrom ?? I tried cd0a,
> cd1a,
>   | cd0b... to no avail.
> 
> cd0a should be what works - but if dmesg doesn't say
> that you have
> a cd0, then as far as NetBSD is concerned you don't
> - so there's no
> point trying mount commands.
> 
>   | I there a problem with the NetBSd install and
> Samsung
>   | CDROM drives ? Has anyone else faced such a
> problem ?
> 
> I have seen someone with a CD drive that NetBSD
> simply could not see.
> A master/slave select jumper that had almost fallen
> off the back of the
> drive (and hence wasn't doing anything) was the
> culprit.
> 
> Apart from that, any ATAPI IDE CD reader (and
> writer, acting as a reader)
> should simply work on NetBSD.
> 
> kre
> 


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