>You burnt it as a file to the cd? or burnt it as an image?  (note simtec
>instructions lack here)  but if you make an iso file system with the img
>(is it the img or the other file, there's 2 files) in the root partition
>of it, you should be able to do:
>boot cd0:filename

I burnt the file to cd, not using the file as an ISO9660 (I did actually 
try telling Nero to do that but it baulked when it couldn't establish the 
correct 2048/2356 sector-size or what-not so I figured that writing it as a 
file was indeed the way to go).

That is to say, if I mount the CD in a PC its content is listed as:

         flash-x86.img

It could be, however, that the image Nero burnt isn't strictly ISO9660 
compliant. I'll try burning it again this evening with different options 
and re-try.

>list of things to check this weekend, it appears the downloadable image is
>wrong!  It should have a netbsd (does it have a netbsd.aout)

The ISO seems to contain "only" the contents of:

ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.6/cats

and thus not netbsd.aout other than in gzipped form (unless I can boot that 
directly?).

>I've found no issues with the 30 and 40GB disks in mine, but then I've got
>the latest firmware...

That's good to know, thanks. :)

I've "liberated" an old 250MB :O drive from a cupboard at work, so I'll try 
formatting that ext2 and flashing from there if the CD flash still doesn't 
work.

If I get the flash upgraded and the 20GB drive is properly recognised, 
could I install by untarring the base sets with -zxpf (IIRC?) onto the 20GB 
on another machine and popping it into the CATS?

Many thanks for your help,

Tim.