disk partitions on that aren't recognized by mkfs + parted

[Doll, Margaret Ann]

I successfully made a logical volume out of four disks.  I am now attempting
to do the same to another four disks on the same system.

"fdisk -l"

shows a similar result for each of the new four

Disk /dev/sdk1:  2000.3 Gb, 2000398923016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders
Units  cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

  Device Boot     Start     End      Blocks         Id    System
/dev/sdk1           1          243201  1953512001  83   Linux

parted sees them as

Model:  ATA WDC WD20EAD5-98R (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdk:  2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical):  512B/512B
partition Table:  msdos

Number  Start   End   Size   Type    File system  Flags
1             32.3kB 2000Gb  2000GB primary

but mkfs doesn't work

mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdk1
make2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Could not stat /dev/sdk1 --- No such file or directory

Same results with "mke2fs -j"

cat /proc/partitions shows for the disks that worked:

8   96   1953514584  sdg
8   97   1953512001  sdg1

for the disks that don't work:

8  112   1953514584  sdk

parted is version  1.8.1-27.el5.  I have the system completely updated.
2.6.18-238.9.1.el5xen
I understand that parted is sometimes a problem.   Should I download
gparted?