netboot different behavior on ROM 01 and 03 GS

[Ivan X <ivanxqz@yahoo.com>]

I'm not terribly IIgs savvy, but after getting a //e to work with an
AppleShare server (either netatalk or AppleShare 3.0), I wanted to try a
IIgs. I have two of them, one a ROM 01 (which, until I get more than 512 MB
RAM for it, is effectively unusable), and one an 03. Neither have any cards
in them or mods. I also only have 800K floppy drives.

Long story short: In Sweet16, I made used the installer disks to create a
disk image with a complete system. I brought it over to Mac OS 7.6.1,
mounted it (via the ProDOS File System extension), and from there copied its
contents to the local volume (A2FILES) being shared by AppleShare 3.0.

Here's the stumper: If I designate /A2FILES/SYSTEM/FINDER as the startup
application using AppleShare 3.0, the ROM 01 machine netboots, does the
text-based AppleShare logon, and then happily starts loading GS/OS, until it
unceremoniously dies when it runs out of RAM. The ROM 03 machine is more
curious: it doesn't start loading GS/OS at all but instead instantly
complains that /A2FILES/SYSTEM/FINDER isn't a ProDOS 8 application. If I
designate one (e.g. BASIC.SYSTEM), that works, though it's obviously of
limited utility if I'm trying to boot GS/OS.

Exact same everything, only difference is the ROM rev on the IIgs. I've
tried this with Boot Blocks 2.2 (Log On 1.4) and 3.0 (Log On 1.5), same
story. I've also confirmed the same thing on both netatalk and AppleShare
3.0 volumes.

The only thing I can think of is that something special happens when GS/OS
copies the files to an AppleShare volume, as opposed to the Mac, that
somehow allows the ROM 03 machine to recognize START. Which seems pretty
unlikely, but it's all I've got. And if I designate a local floppy's startup
path instead of a network volume, I STILL get the same story, so I'm not
even sure that theory holds up. Why would that machine be insisting on a
ProDOS 8 application when the ROM 01 does just fine?