Help for someone starting out with Alpha 3000/600

[Angelo Bertolli <angelo@freeshell.org>]

I inherited an Alpha 3000/600 from someone, but haven't been able to get 
it to boot.  I have tried the alpha mini CD for Debian just to see if it 
would work.  I really don't know anything about what to expect, and I 
don't even know if this system is usable or not, so I thought I'd ask here:

When booting I do not get any diagnostic screen (like it says in the 
manual).  I only get a lonely cursor blinking at the bottom of the 
screen after a few moments of HD whirring.  Does this mean something bad?

Also, I'm using a SCSI CDROM that uses CD caddies.  Are burned CDR's 
going to work with this machine?

Thanks,
Angelo