2851 Router will not boot from CF, after reload goes into rommon

Question

I recently obtained a 2851 and have been battling this issue for a week now. An odd set of circumstances happen with the bootstrap startup process. If the router has loss of power or when reloaded; it fails to read the CF card and boots to rommon. I can tftp an image to it (tftpdnld -r) and IOS CAN read the flash card along with any saved configuration.
In fact once in IOS, I can wr mem and print the hardware details of the CF card. Once I reload the router it goes to rommon, fails to open the flash, then sits until i tftp the image back. When the router load IOS, it also loads the startup config.
I don't think it's a problem with the CF card as IOS can read it. I've tried formatting the card from IOS and from my pc as FAT, FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS - it didn't make a different. I updated the ROMMON to allow for USB booting but haven't purchased a USB Drive yet for testing. The upgrade didn't resolve this issue either. It almost seems like a firmware problem with the EPROM.
I've played with the config register to see what, if any, impact it had. Currently it's set to 0x2102, putting it in the diag register didn't produce any other errors than what's listed below.
I'm stumped and out of ideas. Hoping somebody has some insight on what could be causing this to happen.
Apprecite your time reading my question.
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
open(): Open Error = -66
loadprog: error - on file open
boot: cannot load "flash:c2800nm-advsecurityk9-
mz.151-3.T2.bin"
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
open(): Open Error = -66
boot: cannot open "flash:"
boot: cannot determine first executable file name on device "flash:"
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
open(): Open Error = -66
boot: cannot open "flash:"
boot: cannot determine first executable file name on device "flash:"
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
Entering rommon> prompt after several failed attempts to boot an IOS image.
Please check your internal/external flash drives for the correct IOS image
and issue 'reset' at the rommon> prompt to re-try the boot process.
rommon>

Answer 1

Yes, I have tried different types of CF and USB with the same result. I have "official" cisco 256mb cf and a sandisk cf. I have tried various brands of usbflash.
I added boot system statements to the config to cf, then usb0, then usb1 to see if perhaps one would read. It looks like it doesn't bother after the first device fails. This is only for my studies and I can deal with "tftpdnld -r" every time I boot it. Just was trying to nail down any other possibilies.
System Bootstrap, Version 12.4(13r)T11, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
Copyright (c) 2009 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Initializing memory for ECC
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
open(): Open Error = -66
loadprog: error - on file open
boot: cannot load "flash:c2800nm-ipvoice-mz.151-2.T1.bin"
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
open(): Open Error = -66
boot: cannot open "flash:"
boot: cannot determine first executable file name on device "flash:"
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
open(): Open Error = -66
boot: cannot open "flash:"
boot: cannot determine first executable file name on device "flash:"
c2851 platform with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled
Upgrade ROMMON initialized
Entering rommon> prompt after several failed attempts to boot an IOS image. 
Please check your internal/external flash drives for the correct IOS image
and issue 'reset' at the rommon> prompt to re-try the boot process.
rommon 1 >