ERROR "pv_read(): LVM structure version"

Hello all, I'm new to this list (since this is the first major problem i've had with LVM) so please bare with me and let me know what i need to submit for help. Here's the situation:
I wanted to upgrade from Slackware 8.1 to Slackware 9.0. On the system I had a volume group (vg00) of 4 disks (hde1 through hdh1). The LVM was running fine. I first attempted to do the upgrade to slack 9 without a full reinstall (using swaret) but didn't like some of the results with other parts of the system. LVM is still fine at the point. So, I prepare to do a full upgrade. I figured the best way to do this would be to export the LVM on the running system, do the upgrade to slack 9 with a fresh clean install, then import the LVM back in. These were the commands I planned to use:
On old system:
vgchange -an vg00
vgexport vg00

On new system:
vgimport vg00 /dev/hde1
vgchange -ay vg00

So, as a test, I figured I would run this set of commands on the system without the upgrade. Here's where things went wrong. I did the vgchange and the vgexport... No problem, go to do the vgimport and I get
vgimport -- ERROR "vg_read_with_pv_and_lv(): current PV" reading data of volume group "vg00"

eek... okay, so i try a vgscan with these results:
vgscan -- reading all physical volumes (this may take a while...) vgscan -- ERROR "vg_read_with_pv_and_lv(): current PV" can't get data of volume group "vg00PV_EXP" from physical volume(s)
vgscan -- "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" successfully created vgscan -- WARNING: This program does not do a VGDA backup of your volume group

and a pvscan
pvscan -- reading all physical volumes (this may take a while...)

pvscan -- inactive PV "/dev/hdg1"  is in EXPORTED VG "vg00" [38.16 GB / 0 free]
pvscan -- inactive PV "/dev/hdh1"  is in EXPORTED VG "vg00" [57.26 GB / 0 free]
pvscan -- inactive PV "/dev/hde1"  is in EXPORTED VG "vg00" [28.61 GB / 0 free]

pvscan -- total: 3 [124.05 GB] / in use: 3 [124.05 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0]

So i see that /dev/hdf1 is missing... :(
so pvdisplay /dev/hdf1
pvdisplay -- ERROR "pv_read(): LVM structure version" no VALID physical volume "/dev/hdf1"

so i try a vgcfgrestore (yes, i saved a copy) -n vg00 /dev/hdf1 vgcfgrestore -- this is a backup of volume group "vg00" vgcfgrestore -- ERROR "pv_read(): LVM structure version" reading physical volume "/dev/hdf1"

So I think to myself "maybe it was the half upgrade to 9"... So I did a complete reinstall of 8.1 - same results, so I did a clean install of 9 - same results... It seems like no matter what I do, I get the LVM structure version error. So my real question is, is there any way to fix this? I tried playing around with a script pvversion that was supposed to change the structure version, but it didn't seem to do anything. If I can't fix this drive, i'm willing to bite the loss of the data on that drive, but I can't seem to find a way to bring back the volume group without that drive intact. If I throw another drive in it's place and run a vgcfgrestore on it, it works - but then I have that one drive there, and 3 exported drives. Can i somehow import those 3 with the 1 replacement? Or, am I completely out of luck and have lost the whole group?

Any help is greatly appreciated... I can supply any other command results that anyone thinks would be helpful. If it comes to it i could possibly give someone ssh access to the box (nothing else on it at the moment anyway). Feel free to email me directly, otherwise I will be monitoring the thread. Thanks in advance.

Brint E. Kriebel
3rd Year Information Technology Major
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY
[email protected]