I have had a chance to try a few more things, I was focused for a while on this error message that I noticed at some point when the problem first started:



Open event driver failed.... Fatal server error.... Check mouse configuration


I started to read up on mouse configurations, and probably just wasted a bunch of time because even though I can go into unix.safe and add/remove a mouse to reconfigure, whenever it builds the new kernel, environment, etc. I'm not really going to see those changes because I can never boot up in the "regular" unix kernel - right?


So here's what I now have: HD #1 with previously working O/S and legacy app. HD #2 with fresh O/S installation. I can easily power down and switch between the two hard drives for testing, and here is what I can do with each one:


HD #1 - I can boot into unix.safe in either maintenance mode or regular mode, but in regular mode I have no mouse control in the graphical interface. I cannot boot into unix.old or just a blank (unix) boot, whenever it reaches the "Loading kernel" part the machine does a restart.


HD #2 - I can boot into unix.safe in either maintenance mode or regular mode, but again no mouse control in the GI. I can boot into unix.old, but no help there. I cannot do a straight boot (unix), it does the same restart when the loading kernel process begins.


So my only thoughts now are something with the motherboard - maybe the primary IDE port or channel is malfunctioning, or it really has something to do with the PS/2 mouse port? The only thing that makes sense to me is something to do with the IDE channel, since the restart seems to be triggered whenever any kind of "load" is put on the HD. Does this even make sense?