mod_write works, but page not found?

[bytech]

I noticed that whenever I have ANYTHING in the .htaccess file, even just the RewriteEngine on command, my subdomain craps out... I am trying to get my old URL of http://www.example.net/forum forwarded to my subdomain of http://forum.example.net/ ... the code I have does this, but just by having anything in my .htaccess, the subdomain craps out. :( Anyone have any thoughts on that one?

Thanks in advance.

[edited by: jdMorgan at 5:57 am (utc) on Jan. 28, 2004]
[edit reason] Removed URL specifics per TOS [/edit]

[jdMorgan]

bytech,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]!

I'm just guessing here, but for lack of any evidence to the contrary, I'd say that your subdomain is pointed to a subdirectory of your main domain account, and that the server is not configured to allow mod_rewrite (at least not by default). So, if you put code into .htaccess, it kills the subdomain.

If you are getting a 500-Server Error, then that would apply. Check your raw error logs to see if there is any information available there to help identify the problem.

Quite frequently, the directive Options +FollowSymLinks is required to be placed before the RewriteEngine on directive in .htaccess -- it depends on your server setup.

If none of this helps, post your relevant code (sans specific domain names, please) and we'll look at it.

Jim

[bytech]

Appologise for not reading the TOS, and posting full URLs... i've been working on this mod thing for the past 10 hours, and am getting lazy on my reading. :)

For some reason my log file ends abruptly a few hours back. Never payed close attention to it... maybe it updates every few hours? (that would be dumb, but it's all I can think of).

So, this means I have no idea what error I really get. All I know is that the new URL shows up fine, but I get the cobalt error: "The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request".

Now, as I mentioned... it seems that ANY code in .htaccess kills the subdomain. I just tried one line in .htaccess:

Options +FollowSymLinks

As soon as that line was added to my .htaccess, the subdomain stopped functioning. At this point I am not too worried about anything other than trying to figure out why having anything in my .htaccess kills the subdomain... I will try to check my logs in the morning, and see if my latest attempt got logged anywhere that I can find... Maybe I can get a darn error code in case the msg I reprinted doesn't help...

Thanks a mil for your help... please throw any suggestions my way if you have any...