init can't open inittab

I'm installing VSTa 1.6.1. I've untarred vsta.t into /vsta. When I try
to boot from a GRUB floppy:

root=(hd0,0)
kernel=/vsta/boot/vsta
module=/vsta/boot/cons
module=/vsta/boot/namer
module=/vsta/boot/wd d0:readp
module=/vsta/boot/dos -n fs/root -d //disk/wd:wd0_dos0 -B 512
module=/vsta/boot/init
boot

I get:
syslog: error: init: /vsta/etc/inittab: can't open inittab

Boot process 9 dies

Process 9 is of course init

When I replace init with testsh:

% ls
.: no entry
% mount fs/root /x
% cd /x
% ls -l
[...]
vsta: [...] type=f [...]

It seems like the dos server thinks the vsta directory is a file.

Does anyone have any ideas or hints of what to investigate?

-- 
Mark Johnson
mjohnson@enteract.com