static blog page screws my loop

I`m building a custom themed wordpress website for a friend of mine.

Since I have not been able to solve this in 12 hours, I decided to post this message.

I have wordpress set up to display a different static front page, since the “posts” part is only a small part of the actual website (it`s located in a child category).

To make things harder, I`m trying to use a custom template for the “posts” part.

When I dont have a post page setup, I cant get the loop to work. If I do have it setup, I can`t modify it (because it throws the template out).

Any ideas?

Heres the code Im trying for the loop:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); /*start the loop */ ?>

<?php /* show the post information */ ?>
<h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>">
<?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<small><?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> <!-- by <?php the_author() ?> --></small>

<?php /* show the post meat */ ?>
<div class="entry">
<?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry &raquo;'); ?>
</div>

<?php /* category + comment & edit */ ?>
<p class="postmetadata">
Posted in <?php the_category(', ') ?>
<strong>|</strong>
<?php edit_post_link('Edit','','<strong>|</strong>'); ?>
<?php comments_popup_link('No Comments ?', '1 Comment ?', '% Comments ?'); ?></p>

<?php /* let users know when something is changed */ ?>
<!--
<?php trackback_rdf(); ?>
-->

<?php endwhile; /* end the loop */?>

<?php /* navigate posts */ ?>
<div class="navigation">
<div class="alignleft"><?php posts_nav_link('','','&laquo; Previous Entries') ?></div>
<div class="alignright"><?php posts_nav_link('','Next Entries &raquo;','') ?></div>
</div>

<?php /*something isn

t there */ ?>
<?php else : ?>
<h2 class=”center”>Not Found</h2>
<p class=”center”>
<?php _e(‘Are you going maluca? The nega couldn`t find anything for you.’); ?></p>

<?php endif;
get_footer();
?>

`