> Here's how I built a new fs on just the usr partition:

Thanks.

> 1) ran mkfs, picked my drive's scsi id
> 2) mkfs offered three partitions: root, usr, swap. I chose usr
> 	these are the correct partitions.
> 	root previously had mkfs run on it
> 	root had devices built
> 	root had distribution installed & booted successfully
> 
> In other words, the drive was already partitioned & mkfs'd (on root & 
> usr). I re-ran mkfs on just usr for the reasons indicated below. At no 
> point did I bother running mkfs on the swap partition.

And MKFS just trashed your root partition, right?  Hmm, not to imply I
don't believe your story, but it's kind of hard to believe...  I
certainly haven't encountered this kind of problem.  I'd suspect the
SCSI bus cables and terminators, but other than that, I haven't much
idea.

BTW, you mentioned mount complained to you to run fsck on the usr
partition.  Did you run fsck after unmounting the usr partition?
Running fsck on a mounted file system is extremely dangerous.

kenn