Strange problem with 404 not found

[gpilling]

I have a dedicated server that I use for several websites. I bought a new domain and set it to the server, then uploaded an open source CMS to run the site. I also made a custom 404 page while I was at it.

The site will be bilingual eventually, so the english part went in a directory call "en" and a temporary redirect to visitors from www.example.com to www.example.com/en/ .. So far, so good. Everything works. I began loading in a dozen pages of content, so I have something to work with to figure out how I want to lay it out.

Then the weirdness began. After an hour of working on it, the page went 404 - but not the custom 404 page I had made. When I went to www.example.com the page was the "congratulations you have apache loaded on the server" the standard page you get when their are no files loaded. 10 minutes later, everything is back to normal - the page redirects as it should and the CMS functions with no 404 errors. Another 30 minutes, and the problem repeats itself. This has happened 5 times so far today. When it occurs, all the other sites on the same server seem to work fine.

Any ideas?

I posted here because the redirect fails and then comes back - something I figure is not within the CMS software. Also because the custom 404 page doesn't show when it happens.