For eips, the actual text is the third argument, the first two are x/y pos (in characters and lines, respectively. 0 0 should be top left, IIRC.)
Although the fact that it didn't block on sleep isn't terribly reassuring :/.
I don't see a shebang in your snippets, was that just for the quotes? Because the init script doesn't call sh, it *relies* on the script's shebang.
And yeah, a serial access would definitely solve the 'getting in' issue (there are a couple of threads on the subject)
.