Thanks Joshua, it sounds like you have handle on this situation.  All I have 
to do is iron out the details.  Here's what happened:  

[root at localhost carl]# FILE=/root/tmp/hdb4
[root at localhost carl]# mknod $FILE b 3 68
[root at localhost carl]# dd if=$FILE of=/dev/null bs=1 count=1
dd: opening `/root/tmp/hdb4': Input/output error
[root at localhost carl]# rm $FILE
rm: remove `/root/tmp/hdb4'? y
[root at localhost carl]#

I hope I input this the way you were looking for.  Could you explain in a 
little simpler terms what I'm doing here?  I'm very new to the Linux command 
line.  I read the mans, but don't quite get it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Carl,
I don't have a devfs linux kernel around to verify this with but here's
how I remember doing this. You *don't* create the device node in /dev. Do
it in /root or /tmp. The thing is, all you have to do is do some IO and
devfs will notice the drive.

Here's an idea:

FILE=/root/tmp/hd??
mknod $FILE b ? ??
dd if=$FILE of=/dev/null bs=1 count=1
rm $FILE

Obviously that does absolutely nothing of any real interest *except*
force the system to actually look for something at that device node.
You'll notice a matching /dev/hd?? symlink will have just appeared. It's
magic.

Joshua b. Jore
Minneapolis Ward 3, precinct 10
http://www.greentechnologist.org

On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, Carl Zeilon wrote:

> OK, here is the latest of the zip saga.   By issuing "mknod /dev/hdb4 b 3 
68"
> everything works great!  AFAIK there is a problem with devfs & the 
ide-floppy
> module.  Nobody on the Mandrake forum seems to know how to make this "stick"
> though (I tried adding it to /etc/rc.d/rc.local).  All these fixes have to 
be
> rerun after rebooting or just logging out.  The best suggestion I heard is
> changing the configuration to use the ide-scsi module (just like the old
> days).  Unfortunately, I wasn't around for those days & don't know how to do
> it.  Does this sound like a good option?  Anybody want to walk me through 
it?
>  Thanks