Depending on how you define logging in /etc/named.conf and how you start
named, sometimes BIND 8 will silently skip loading a zone file if the zone
file has errors, or if the zone file was referenced by part of named.conf
that follows a parse error in named.conf.  There is probably a way to fix
this silence in the excellent logging {} section of named.conf, but I
usually just start named with '-d 1'.  This writes parse errors to
/var/log/messages, but it also writes a bunch of other nonsense, so i
generally don't leave named running this way--just use it for testing.

$ kill `cat /var/run/named.pid`
$ tail -f /var/log/messages&
$ named -d 1

Hopefully, this will point out a parse error in named.conf or in one of
your zone files that is keeping named from initializing itself the way
you planned it to.

-- 
Miles Nordin / v:1-888-857-2723 fax:+1 530 579-8680
555 Bryant Street PMB 182 / Palo Alto, CA 94301-1700 / US