Does SRM care what IDE optical drive it sees?

[Bob Tracy <rct@gherkin.frus.com>]

Situation: I've got a PWS 433au (Miata) on which I've been trying to do
a "from scratch" install of Lenny.  (See the gory details on
debian-alpha).  To make a long story short, I had reason to try and
replace the existing CD-ROM drive with a CD-RW burner, and the Alpha
refused to boot.  I couldn't even get the power-up diagnostics to run.

I put the original CD-ROM drive back in the system (and removed the new
one).  Result: everything works correctly.

Is SRM really that picky about the optical drive?  Or did I simply
install a defective drive (not likely, but I'll consider the
possibility)?

-- 
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Bob Tracy          |  "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit
rct@frus.com       |   upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin
                   |   slitting throats."	-- H.L. Mencken
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