OLDER POSTS link returns 404

As you are using permalinks ( I guess pretty ), you probably have a .htaccess file to support URL rewrites.
In that case, you could try the following.
1. Delete the .htaccess file
2. Create a new empty .htaccess file
3. Make it writable by the web server – permissions 664
4. Go to your permalink options page in WordPress and check
that you have the permalink structure you want.
5. Click Update Permalink Structure

If everything is OK, WordPress will write the necessary directives to .htaccess.

If that doesn’t work, there may still be corrupted references in your database or something wrong with your theme.

Thanks for the tip, petit… I’m actually using custom permalinks (/index.php/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%).

I’ll do what you suggested and report back.

Thanks again.

I did what you suggested and the problem persists. Here’s my .htaccess:

ErrorDocument 401 /error.php?error=401
ErrorDocument 402 /error.php?error=402
ErrorDocument 403 /error.php?error=403
ErrorDocument 404 /error.php?error=404
ErrorDocument 500 /error.php?error=500
php_flag safe_mode off
php_flag register_globals on
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ – [S=75]
RewriteRule ^(about/mc-stats-page)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/mc-stats-page)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/mc-stats-page)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/mc-stats-page)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/mc-stats-page)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/plugins)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/plugins)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/plugins)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/plugins)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/plugins)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/contact-us)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/contact-us)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/contact-us)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/contact-us)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/contact-us)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/heatmap)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/heatmap)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/heatmap)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/heatmap)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about/heatmap)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(web-links-page)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(web-links-page)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(web-links-page)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(web-links-page)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(web-links-page)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(archives)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(archives)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(archives)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(archives)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(archives)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(smartarchives)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(smartarchives)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(smartarchives)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(smartarchives)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(smartarchives)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about)/trackback/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(about)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?pagename=$1&page=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?&feed=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?&feed=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?&paged=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^comments/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?&feed=$1&withcomments=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^comments/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?&feed=$1&withcomments=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^comments/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?&paged=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^search/(.+)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?s=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^search/(.+)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?s=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^search/(.+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?s=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^search/(.+)/?$ /index.php?s=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^category/(.+)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?category_name=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^category/(.+)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?category_name=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^category/(.+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?category_name=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^category/(.+)/?$ /index.php?category_name=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^author/([^/]+)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?author_name=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^author/([^/]+)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?author_name=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^author/([^/]+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?author_name=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^author/([^/]+)/?$ /index.php?author_name=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&feed=$4 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&feed=$4 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&paged=$4 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&feed=$3 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&feed=$3 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&paged=$3 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&feed=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/?$ /index.php?year=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)/trackback/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&tb=1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)/feed/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&feed=$5 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)/(feed|rdf|rss|rss2|atom)/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&feed=$5 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&paged=$5 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)(/[0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&page=$5 [QSA,L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

(AND on another topic… can someone provide pointers for how I could configure my Linux server (Fedora Core 4) running Apache/MySQL/PHP not to need “index.php” in my permalinks?)

Oh, my gosh! Did WordPress write all that)
Heres mine:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /blog/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /blog/index.php
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

If you have the index.php in your permalink, the .htaccess is not necessary.

Apache uses the rewrite module ( mod rewrite ) to do the rewrite. This module is disabled by default and must be allowed in the httpd.conf configuration file.

Here is A Beginner’s Guide to URL Rewriting

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your time and energy.

Mine certainly is complicated compared to yours… I’m not sure how to economize it!

I really need to get this issue resolved. Can you suggest additional steps to try?

Did you follow the point 4 and 5 above *and*
changed your permalink structure to be
/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/
that is without the index.php part?

And do you have the .htaccess in your blog’s root directory – together with wp-config.php ?

I carefully followed the instructions (1-5) above (removing “/index.php” from the permalink in #4) and it didn’t work.

I noticed that rolling back — that is, restoring the backup of my .htaccess file and restoring “/index.php” to the permalink — did not return the site to working order. Simply VISITING Options->Permalinks is enough to cause the site to stop working, no matter if I “Update Permalink Structure” or not. I ended up having to Empty and restore my WordPress database from backup!

Here’s the .htaccess file that is currently on my site…

# BEGIN Url Rewrite section
# (Automatically generated. Do not edit this section)
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} gallery\_remote2\.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/wp-gallery2\.php$
RewriteRule . – [L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \ /d/([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)/([^\/\?]+)(\?.|\ .)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/wp-gallery2\.php$
RewriteRule . /gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=%1&g2_serialNumber=%2&g2_fileName=%3 [QSA,L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \ /f/([^?]+)(\?.|\ .)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/wp-gallery2\.php$
RewriteRule . /wp-gallery2.php?g2_controller=permalinks.Redirect&g2_filename=%1 [QSA,L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \ /v/([^?]+)(\?.|\ .)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/wp-gallery2\.php$
RewriteRule . /wp-gallery2.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_path=%1 [QSA,L]

</IfModule>

# END Url Rewrite section

# BEGIN worst-offenders
Deny from 193.93.237.16
Deny from 193.93.237.20
Deny from 193.93.237.29
<longish list of “Deny from…” deleted>
# END worst-offenders

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

Anyone?