Hot Standby Not So Hot Anymore

I had a 9.0.8 hot standby setup, one master, two slaves, working great.
Then, I tried to re-initialize by making a base backup, the way I've done
it many times before, but for some reason I can't get the standby to accept
connections. I copied the postgresql.conf and recorvery.conf out of the
way, cleaned the data directory and extracted the backup files, then
replaced the conf files. Everything works perfectly, but I keep getting
:FATAL: the database system is starting up

I know I'm an idiot and that I did something wrong but I can't find it.

[root(at)db03 data]# grep standby postgresql.conf
wal_level = hot_standby # minimal, archive, or hot_standby
hot_standby = on # "on" allows queries during recovery
max_standby_archive_delay = -1 # max delay before canceling queries
max_standby_streaming_delay = -1 # max delay before canceling queries

[root(at)db03 data]# grep standby recovery.conf
# Specifies whether to start the server as a standby. In streaming
replication,
standby_mode = 'on'
# Specifies a connection string which is used for the standby server to
connect

[root(at)db03 data]# ps aux | grep stream
postgres 62127 0.1 0.0 34554356 3724 ? Ss 16:22 0:16 postgres:
wal receiver process streaming BA7/12B87818

[root(at)db03 data]# ps aux | grep startup
postgres 62122 0.5 0.9 34545900 1223708 ? Ss 16:22 1:03 postgres:
startup process recovering 0000000100000BA700000012

Any suggestions appreciated!!!

- Ian