updating ports collection

this should be a fairly simple question for any of you, but i've been working around my current system and decided it's time to update my ports collection. i worked through the stuff i needed to do in order to actually update, but when i 'make update' it returns this:

[1:33am][root_at_atari /usr/ports] make update
-------------------------------------------------------------->>> Updating /usr/ports from cvs repository /usr/ports
--------------------------------------------------------------cd /usr/ports; cvs -R -q update -A -P -dcvs update: in directory .
:cvs [update aborted]: there is no version here; do 'cvs checkout' first
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/ports.

any suggestions?

--Marc Cabanatuan <mcabanatuan_at_wi.rr.com>
Network and Systems Administrator
A+, Network+, Linux+, CCNA