Installing Drupal

I've got all my Rewrites and directory indexes lined up.... .htaccess is changing the relevant php directives etc....

When I attempt to login, I am taken to a blank page, can't figure it out.
RewriteBase is /drupal
if point my browser after to http://localhost/drupal/q?
It will take me to the admin page where I can go to various settings pages.
If I make a change to the settings for instance (change the slogon for instnce)
when I press the form submit button I get a blank screen

Let's share our 4.4 to 4.5 upgrade tips !

1. I followed the drupal INSTALL.txt upgrade instructions
---------------------------
1. Backup your database and Drupal directory - especially your
configuration file (www.example.com.conf or includes/conf.php).

2. Log on as the user with user ID 1.

3. Remove all the old Drupal files then unpack the new Drupal files
into the directory that you run Drupal from.

This is what I get right at the beginning :(
Any idea what can be the issue? I'm running Mac OS X 10.3 and latest MySQL.

I've installed Drupal 4.4 and Civicspace 0.7 several times, but the tarball I just downloaded from drupal.org for 4.5 doesn't have a database/database.mysql script. There is a database/database.mysql.inc but the INSTALL.txt mentions nothing about what to do with database/database.mysql.inc.

OK, I know when I am beaten and have to ask for help. I am trying to load Drupal 4.5.0 onto a virtual hosted server and can't get it to function at all. Drupal looks to be a possible solution for my needs but the excitement of finding it is fading with my lack of success. I have checked out other CMS stystems and run one on e107. With all of the others (PHPNuke, PostNuke, etc) loading and set up was easy as they have installers.

My situation is that I cannot use MySQL Administrator or similar tools to access my database. I only have the admin tool the host supplies. This lets me view and edit tables and run SQL queries - though I do not have a clue about that! - but I have no control over top level stuff. I can only create one database per domain which is created with full user permissions I believe. I had no problem creating a database and importing the database.mysql file, which looks fine.

The PHP is v4.3.8 and the only difference in the configuration as far as I can see is that "session.save_handler" is set to "files", though this is overwritten by the .htaccess file so it shouldn't make any difference.

I have correctly (I believe) defined the db_url and base_url - and have tried various other deperate options in case! I have tried loading it to my local root and into a directory (with suggested alterations from various postings) but nothing works.

I have looked and searched through the site and forums for answers but to no avail. Nothing quite answers my problem.

I'm installing Drupal locally on my Mac OS X and there is one section in the Install.txt that I don't get. Everything else seems to go through fine.

SERVER CONFIGURATION
--------------------

Your PHP must have the following settings:

session.save_handler user

In addition, we recommend the following settings:

session.cache_limiter none

These values are set in php.ini and can be overwritten in a .htaccess
file; you can print out your local PHP settings with PHP's phpinfo()
function.