boot without loader(8) -> BTX halted

[Anton Shterenlikht]

I can boot fine with loader(8). However if I try to load kernel directly from boot(8) I always get "BTX halted" no matter which kernel and options I choose. The only command that works is the loader itself, /boot/loader. Why?

man 8 loader says that BTX client is the name of the loader on i386. So does "BTX halted" error message mean that loader(8) is still called, even though it was supposed to be bypassed?

I compiled the hints statically to the kernel because my understanding is that if loader(8) is bypassed then /boot/device.hints cannot be read. Is that correct? 

I use 6.0-release on compaq armada 1700 laptop.

thanks
anton