> I just tried this on sda5 (which I know I created) and got the same
> response.  Do you think I should just start over? I don't. I think
> thaat the insight I  will receive from getti9ng it to work as-is could
> be inval;ueable; but if  that mkfs needs to be run and the drive needs
> to be empty, then that is what  needs to happen.
> :)~MIKE~(:
> 
> 
> mke2fs 1.34-WIP (21-May-2003)
> /mnt/sda5 is not a block special device.
> Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
> mkfs.ext2: Device size reported to be zero.  Invalid partition
> specified, or
>         partition table wasn't reread after running fdisk, due to
>         a modified partition being busy and in use.  You may need to
>         reboot to re-read your partition table.
> 
> root@bmike1:/mnt#

One thing, you have to run mkfs on an unmounted partition ( i.e /dev/sdXX ). 
Standard disclamer: I make no claims of responsibility for lost files, bla,
bla, bla.

Scott