Help: i386 hangs when not networked

[Ted Scharlemann <ets@llnl.gov>]

I have two separate but identical i386 machines that exhibit the
same symptom: when not connected to a full network (with router and
nameserver), the machines freeze up completely at very close to 2
minutes and 40 seconds (+/- 5 seconds) after the last time I enter a
keystroke on the keyboard.

I have tried removing the PCVT_SCREENSAVER from the kernel,
all references to routers and nameservers (i.e., there is no /etc/mygate
nor /etc/resolv.conf), all references to an external network (no ep0
configuration with ifconfig, no entry except localhost in /etc/hosts),
inetd, syslogd, portmap, etc. and the systems still hang.

I have tried the GENERIC kernel, a custom built one with ep0 support, 
one without ep0 support, and one with pc0 instead of vt0 support.

The configuration is as follows:
   Micron 333 MHz PII
   3C905-TX PCI ethernet card
   OpenBSD 2.2
   Number Nine Revolution 3D graphics card
   AHA-2940UW SCSI adapter with 
     WDE 9100 hard drive, Plextor 32TS CD-ROM, and a 1 GB JAZ drive
   Hitachi 803 monitor

The freeze-up occurs whether or not I am running X (XFree86 3.3.2).

Does anyone have any suggestions about what to pursue next, or how I
might fix this (rather severe) problem? I need to run both machines
either with only a local network or completely networkless.

Thanks in advance.

Ted Scharlemann
ets@llnl.gov
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA 94550