5.0-RELEASE on an 80386 cpu?

[Paul Chvostek]

I have a gateway router that is an Intel 80386 with a Cyrix Automath
MPU.  The unit is in a slimline (4" high) case and has four ISA Ethernet
cards for which I don't have configuration software (but do have IRQ and
such).  The unit is nicely nestled on a shelf with no room to spare and
only enough cable slack for the case to be opened enough to get at the
hard disk ... which recently suffered a head crash.

I can't complain -- this box was running 2.2.6 until I upgraded it to
4.0-RELEASE, and it's been running 24/7 since then.  (1999 was it?)

But now, I need to install an operating system on a new disk.  Obviously
it will be alot of (hopefully unnecessary) work to upgrade the hardware,
but when I boot 5.0-RELEASE floppies, I get a nasty panic after mfsroot
goes in, finishing up with "BTX halted".

I'm not sure if this a hardware issue, or perhaps an indication that 386
compatibility has become a non-issue for most folks.  Is the install
floppy trying to do something that only became possible in later CPUs?
If so, will it be possible for me to compile and generate a set of boot
floppies that are 386-compatible, or is there some alternate install
process I could follow?  And if not, would my posting the wacky
collection of register values help someone more clueful help me?

Thanks.  ;-)

-- 
  Paul Chvostek                                             <paul at it.ca>
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