"older posts" showing new posts on page

Hi there,
My older posts are not showing anymore.
The same 10 or so new posts are appearing on page 2/ older posts page even when the older posts link is clicked. I checked the admin section and the older posts are still there. I saw that this question was aksed before but it’s unresolved. I did what they suggested in that post (choose auto correct HTML option in Settings> Writing, then change status of posts from published to draft then to published. That did not help. Please help!

ALSO…how do i get posts only related to portfolio not to appear in the recent posts column?

Thanks!