termcap problem on a Sun 3

[rja]

I regularly use a Sun-3 via an Internet TAC (terminal access controller).

The first thing I do when logging in is to reset the terminal type to a
vt100 so things will work correctly. (in ksh: export TERM=vt100 )

Sometimes but not always the Sun gets into a weird state where it believes
that a vt100 has only 7 lines.  The terminal is OK because I've reset it
when this happens and the problem continues.  The termcap entry is also
fine indicating a vt100 as an 80x25 terminal.  I haven't typed the letter
o in place of the number 0.  The machine is a diskfull server so I don't
suspect a network problem.  The OS is around rev 3.5 on the Sun-3.

If anyone has good ideas on what the problem might be or how to diagnose
it further, I'd love to hear from you.   I'll summarise to the net any
responses I get.  I am not that systems' admin, so I can only perform
user-level debugging/diagnosing.

  rja at edison.cho.ge.com   OR (if you must) ...uunet!virginia!edison!rja