Mod Rewrite and Mambo

Using SEF advance and I don't want to break it...

[BillyS]

I realize that there are posts describing how to use mod_rewrite to fix this problem. But I'm not familiar with the syntax of mod_rewrite (although I have looked at it) and I'm already using SEF Advance for Mambo - which uses mod_rewrite. So I see this as a specific question, hopefully someone has already encountered and solved it:
I think that Google is penalizing me in terms of PR because my home page appears this way:

www.redwidgets.com/ - PR3
www.redwidgets.com/index.php - PR2
redwidgets.com/ - PR2
www.redwidgets.com/Category/ - PR4

Is there a way to get the home page listings to all point to the same thing - www.redwidgets.com/? I've tried using redirects, but that breaks the entire site.

Thanks in advance.

[jdMorgan]

> I've tried using redirects,

Can you be more specific about that? What directives did you use?

Msg#5 of this thread [webmasterworld.com] may be useful to you.

Jim

[BillyS]

I guess what I've tried is considered a server side redirect. Telling Apache that if someone comes into the location:

www.redwidgets.com/index.php

to redirect (temporary or permanent, tried both)

www.redwidgets.com

I did this through a back end application (Cpanel). What happens when I do this is that the entire site stops responding. Nothing works until I remove the redirects.

[jdMorgan]

Oh, Cpanel...

You might want to use FTP to find out exactly what code Cpanel is putting in your .htaccess file.

Or just see the thread I cited above, which gives the solution.

Jim

[BillyS]

These are the present rules in .htaccess

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-d
RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ www.redwidgets.com [R=301,L]

[BillyS]

When I tried to insert the code in message #5 in the thread you referenced, I noticed that the server kept trying to reload the page. Nothing ever made it to the screen.