\
section
before your first \
chapter
.
What happens is, that the class numbers sections as
“<chapter no>.<section no>”, and until the first
\
chapter
has appeared, the chapter number is 0. (If you
use\
chapter*
, which doesn’t number the chapter it produces, the
problem still arises.)
If you’re doing this, it’s possible that the article class
is for you; try it and see. Otherwise, put a \
chapter
before
your sections, or do away with section numbering by using
\
section*
instead. An alternative way of avoiding numbering is
discussed in
“unnumbered sections in the table of contents”.
This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=zerochap