I'm having problems with creating a new skin - the layout.master will not update.

I have downloaded the code with tortoisehg and then copied on of the existing skins and renamed it.  I changed the layout.master and css/images but,  when I open it in the browser, all the old html of the layout shows but it's using the new css I created.  I am cleared the history and my browser and reset the skin version guid. I have built the solution several times and have tried using several different browsers. I even renamed the skin and made it into a zip file and tried uploading it through the skin manager, but nothing has changed. When I used firebug to look at the html,  I see part of my html layout mixed with parts of the original skin layout - even html that I know I had already deleted in the layout.

Any idea what is going on?

Thanks for the help.